Have you ever had an accident driving to work in a snow storm?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

My heart really goes out to the children and families of all those caregivers who are bullied into driving during this time of dangerous driving weather.

Their patients who sometimes do not really need help during the storm are strangely enough on a list of the ones they're coerced into driving to. These patients are afraid for their caregivers.

If you have to work during this time, may I suggest leaving before the bad weather starts and arranging a double shift so your relief nurses do not have to go out.

May I also suggest that nurse managers think about what they would want if these nurses were their own children or parents and find alternatives that do not involve threatening them into driving on a dangerous road.

Knowing how to drive on ice does not make anyone more safe.

Specializes in retired from healthcare.
No not if it empty...yes it is a nice employer that is considerate of their employee but they are under no obligation by law.

May I ask where do you live, whagt part of the country that you were stuck at work for 32 hours? I can see catastrophic events like Katrina but I have NEVER been stuck at work for 32 hours. NEVER....and I have been doing this is BAD weather states for a LONG time!

To answer the question, I have lived in the northern states for most of my life.

I have had my car slide backwards down icy hills trying to get to my job. I have had to abandon my car to get to work on time.

Because there are moral and legal issues involved with being there, I sometimes do get stuck for more than a double shift. In the above-mentioned case, it was because someone called out and also because it was not rational for me to travel long-distance back to my home in a blinding snowstorm and come back at 7 am the next day when I knew it would still be snowing.

Like some other health workers have done, I told them I was willing to travel long distance.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Psych.
You've got that right. I have grown up in the northeast, victim to lake effect snow, major snowstorms, ice storms, and combinations of all three. Weather is a fact of life. Part of being an adult is being responsible, looking at the forecast, and preparing accordingly. If the weather is worse than I expected then I call work and tell them I'll be late, after which they ALWAYS tell me to drive safely! That being said I love my CR-V!

I love my CRV too. When I totalled my little 4 door Saturn this summer, I went out to buy a 4x4 specifically due to my job and picked the CRV because I felt it handled more like a car than anything else I test drove. Best decision hands down. It's super comfortable, great visibility, and the stability on slippery winter roads is AWESOME. My only complaint it that it's a little sluggish when trying to get up to speed to merge onto the highway.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in retired from healthcare.

The image of a children losing their mothers because they were required to leave for work on dangerous roadways and pets who would starve to death if their owners get stranded or die on the road has been a major preoccupation for me for a number of months.

Sorry, I failed to make that clear. I guess this is why I'm impervious to the guilt trips people have here on this thread.

People have lost sight of the real issue which has to do with the safety and welfare of caregivers out on the road who are not a dime a dozen and who get stuck in their workplaces during storms.

This is not about ME trying to get "sympathy" like some people have suggested.

It is not about proving that this problem has a simple answer and not about me getting to sit at home "as snug as a bug in rug," while others go to work on icy roads and work extra hours.

I see that some of the horror stories people have told here are all pushed into the background.

Some of the suggestions people have to protect their own and others safety are being drowned out.

As far the suggestion that I have black and white thinking, I'm not here to argue with people whose main concern is really about the feasibility of employers protecting staff members and who can provide reasons.

I came here to talk about protecting people's life, limb and property and ways to get them to work in one piece and a little bit about the feelings of those who have legitimate reasons not to be on the road.

I'm not here to defend the rights of people who live around the corner from their workplace who use the snowstorm to get out of going to work.

People seem to be confused between when someone is not listening and when they have heard you and still have their own opinions ie, you're supposed to have access to a shower when you're doing healthcare and I won't go into the reasons.

Someone asked what my job title is and I do not have to be an LPN, RN DoN or administrator to come on here and express my concern for other people's safety, nor do I have to have years of experience or multiple jobs in healthcare. By the way, I've worked enough years in home care settings, nursing homes and hospitals to know that protecting the safety and welfare of staff during winter storms and is not a ludicrous idea so I'm done now.

I will ask one more time, can you picture your mother, daughter, sister or friend dying out on the road just because someone had no obligation to save them?

https://www.osha.gov/dts/weather/winter_storm/response.html

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

OSHA makes no reference to the obligation of employers to provide shelter and food to stranded workers. It simply gives ways to deal with emergency conditions as we have discussed in this thread. What makes me angry at the OSHA site is the absence of mentioning nurses being required to go into the storm but sanitation workers are....I have NEVER had my garbage picked up during a blizzard. Nurses minimized again....sigh

While most workers can stay inside during a winter storm, some workers may be required to go into the storm. These may include utility workers; law enforcement personnel; firefighters; emergency medical personnel; federal, state and local government personnel; military personnel; highway personnel; and sanitation workers. Some of the hazards associated with working in winter storms include:

I have worked in snowy areas of the US for a lifetime and every facility never turned a nurse away for staying at the facility, however I have never had anyone stay 32 hours requiring room and board.

It is clear this disturbs you and you clearly have issues with the places you have worked and for that I am sorry. Employers are under no LEGAL obligation to provide you room and board. Is is morally right? Maybe not. Are they legally bound? No they are not. Are they liable? Not as it stands right now.

I knew the risks when I became a nurse....I accepted that responsibility. Each person must decide for themselves wehter to weather the storm.

We have to agree to disagree.....I wish you safe driving.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Of Course you should not show up to work, why should any reasonable person think people in the Hospital need taken care of? Your comfort and inconveniences is more important than taking care of patients. Why should you accept responsibility for your choices, it's just not fair. Besides, that's how they do it on TV shows.

It's not like you knew that working in a Hospital was a 24/7 /365 days a year job.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Geriatrics, Telemetry, Med-Surg.

Yes, last Sunday, in fact. Worst part is it wasn't my car. It was my father-in-law's car. I screwed up the suspension, alignment and steering when I hit black ice, then when I got off work I had a flat tire. Fortunately, I made it to work on time and didn't get pointed for being tardy.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I will ask one more time, can you picture your mother, daughter, sister or friend dying out on the road just because someone had no obligation to save them?

https://www.osha.gov/dts/weather/winter_storm/response.html

Would it be horrible? Absolutely! But, sometimes things just HAPPEN. The employer is not out to get you. They're out to hopefully treat patients. It's your job. It's YOUR CHOICE to go in or not go in.

:banghead: OK, I'm done. Seriously. This is getting older than Methuselah.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I am a nurse and my job is taking care of others, no matter what. I have staying in hospitals during storms and went in during storms because I was scheduled. I chose this career and all that comes with it.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

How can anyone be so indifferent to their coworkers that they would expect them to drive when the roads are dangerous and when they might be terrified and then listen to someone say, "that's her problem."

Why can't more people remain at work when the roads are dangerous both to protect themselves and their co-workers and all others on the road.

I agree with you, and I have been on both sides at the same time - calling out of work due to snow and ice, and being the one who stays over so others don't have to risk themselves.

My first experience with an ice storm/blizzard was a few months after I moved to the northeast US from California. I had never driven in snow or ice, and now there was a layer of ice (frozen rain from the night before) covered with snow on the roads, with more snow coming down. I was working two SNF jobs, one was an hour + away and one was a 10-minute drive from home. I was supposed to be at the hour-from-home place that day, and I called out.

Yes jobs are important, and patients are important, but my health and my life is not any less important. After I called out, I started thinking about the 10-minutes-away job, and realized I could WALK there, while other workers who lived farther away would have the same scary experience trying to get there as I would have trying to get to my other job. So I called and told them I can come in today and stay for as long as they need, and I made the almost hour-long walk in the snow/ice so that others would not have to risk driving in. I worked a shift, slept on a mat table in the PT/OT gym for four hours with several other people, worked another full shift, back to the mat table, then worked a third shift. By that time the plows had managed to get through and more people were safely able to show up and work.

NO, employers are not required to make any sort of effort or accommodation to ensure their workers' safety and health. Employers are not required to have any sort of basic decency at all, or to follow the golden rule. Just because they can legally get away with something doesn't make it RIGHT.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Gerontology.

How can anyone be so indifferent to their coworkers that they would expect them to drive when the roads are dangerous and when they might be terrified and then listen to someone say, "that's her problem."

Why can't more people remain at work when the roads are dangerous both to protect themselves and their co-workers and all others on the road.

I agree with you, and I have been on both sides at the same time - calling out of work due to snow and ice, and being the one who stays over so others don't have to risk themselves.

My first experience with an ice storm/blizzard was a few months after I moved to the northeast US from California. I had never driven in snow or ice, and now there was a layer of ice (frozen rain from the night before) covered with snow on the roads, with more snow coming down. I was working two SNF jobs, one was an hour + away and one was a 10-minute drive from home. I was supposed to be at the hour-from-home place that day, and I called out.

Yes jobs are important, and patients are important, but my health and my life is not any less important. After I called out, I started thinking about the 10-minutes-away job, and realized I could WALK there, while other workers who lived farther away would have the same scary experience trying to get there as I would have trying to get to my other job. So I called and told them I can come in today and stay for as long as they need, and I made the almost hour-long walk in the snow/ice so that others would not have to risk driving in. I worked a shift, slept on a mat table in the PT/OT gym for four hours with several other people, worked another full shift, back to the mat table, then worked a third shift. By that time the plows had managed to get through and more people were safely able to show up and work.

NO, employers are not required to make any sort of effort or accommodation to ensure their workers' safety and health. Employers are not required to have any sort of basic decency at all, or to follow the golden rule. Just because they can legally get away with something doesn't make it RIGHT.

So it indifferent to expect a colleague to come into work, but it's not indifferent to,expect a colleague to work a double shift.

If you chose to work an hours drive away, then you need to be prepared to drive an hour in unpleasant weather. And if you have never driven in ice, then you need to call up a driving school and take lessons in preparation for icy weather.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

So it indifferent to expect a colleague to come into work, but it's not indifferent to,expect a colleague to work a double shift.

I don't "expect" anyone to do anything. I can't dictate anyone else's values; I can only make my own choices based on my own values. I don't want to be a part of perpetuating the attitude that as healthcare workers, our safety and health needs aren't important at all. I was willing to work three shifts back to back because (given sleep breaks) it was safer for me to do that, than it would be for someone else to try to drive on a sheet of ice and potentially hurt themselves.

Incidentally, the nearby place offered to come and pick up workers who felt they could not safely make it to work. Interesting that some facilities find it possible to orchestrate things like that to improve their workers' safety and others can't or won't.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I have never been told I'm legally bound to go to work. Wow.

No kidding!!!

Um, really? Police showing up to force someone to work? I don't think so. As essential personnel, certainly we are obligated to do everything safely possible to get to work or try to get the shift covered, but there is no profession I'm aware of where you break the law by not showing up. That's just ludicrous.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment