UPDATED – A council office building was closed until further notice this afternoon (Thursday 27 February) after two staff collapsed.
Brighton and Hove City Council called in a specialist contractor to carry out a series of tests while paramedics treated the two staff.
The building, Bartholomew House, also known as Barts House, is opposite Brighton Town Hall and houses the council’s customer services centre.
The council sent an “urgent safety message” to staff which said: “We’ve been made aware that two individuals working in close proximity at Barts house have collapsed this afternoon for reasons currently unknown.
“As a safety precaution, we have closed Barts House.
“Ambulance services have attended and provided the necessary support to these individuals.
“Facilities and security colleagues are currently in the process of assisting colleagues to collect their belongings and leave the building for the rest of the day as a precaution until the cause can be ascertained.
“A specialist contractor will be on site at 5pm today to carry out various tests to assist in the process of ascertaining what the cause might be alongside any information received back from the ambulance service.
“We fully acknowledge the impact to building users by temporarily closing Barts House.
“However, our priority is keeping everyone safe, so thank you for your patience and understanding.
“Service teams based at Barts House are advised to activate their business continuity plans if necessary and work remotely or from alternative council offices.
“Managers of staff based at Barts House please contact/text your team members to keep them updated.
“As soon as we have further updates, including when Barts will be reopened, this will be communicated.”
Tonight, the council’s chief executive Jess Gibbons said: “Two members of council staff working at Bartholomew House required medical attention today (Thursday 27 February).
“As a precaution, due to concerns that it may have been caused by an airborne issue, we took immediate steps to close the building while investigations were undertaken.
“Our specialist contractor has completed thorough air quality checks in the first-floor area. We have received confirmation that no issues were found, and the building is safe to use.
“The first floor will remain closed tomorrow to allow for a deep clean and provide additional reassurance and will reopen to staff on Monday 3 March.
“We will continue to explore what happened and caused the incident. The health and safety of our staff and visitors to our buildings is paramount.”
Drugs and alcohol test not but just an air check from the department ?
We investigate ourselves and find nothing wrong
It is almost certainly not alcohol. Toxicology tests would likely be best served on the individuals in question, since regardless of the results of those, deep cleaning is likely the most sensible, and safest course of action. If there’s a contaminant, it’s removed. If there isn’t, the first floor has been made exceptionally hygienic.
Hope the staff members are okay & no one else will be affected. Thank you for your update.
I imagine that was all the staff actually in the premises at the time and chose to have another cheeky Greggs that put them over the edge.
I think the main health issue for council workers nowadays is caused by hard-working office staff having to read angry emails and social media comments.
Stay strong, people. The real world continues, away from the flat screens.
You joke, but I’ve heard some of the vileness people sprout towards council staff. Heck, even just reflecting on some of the comments back in retail land – reminds me how downright nasty people can be. It is easy to be kind to people, and unfortunately, it seems to be a rare skill to be constructive.
Probably the milk was off for the morning porridge that council office workers must have in work time before starting work.
Imagine being a grown adult and spending your life imagining scenarios of minor local government inefficiency – people eating some breakfast during work time! – to get annoyed about on social media.
They probably read the email about productivity and accountability,
It was an allergic reaction to being in the office, engaging with other human beings and getting up before 10am
Look how quickly they can get things done when it suits them shame they can’t be that quick about anything else trust me it toke me 7 years to get a flat and it’s not even cancil infact the cancil did nothing to help I was 16 and homeless I was housed by the charity South Downs with in a few months of talking to them anyways there lucky it was a false alarm the amount of people they have pissed off
It’s a wise move where there is an unknown cause. While an airborne contaminant, such as carbon monoxide poisoning was a reasonable initial concern, the negative test results suggest other potential causes. These could include a viral infection, foodborne illness, or exposure to drugs such as SCRAs or opioids considering the clientele. It may even have just been a coincidental medical episode.
Someone brought their special cookies in again
I love this comment
Possible asked to spend less time working from home.
Told to get on with their job and stop faffing?
Sudden movement?
Quick to hate.
There’s a time and place for jokes or attacks towards council staff, when they’ve collapsed isn’t that time.