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Inquest has heard milk protein was found in cup used by teenager who had severe allergies to dairy products
Workers at a Costa coffee shop where a teenage girl drank a hot chocolate hours before she died used Google Translate to complete their training on allergies, an inquest has heard.
Hannah Jacobs, 13, who had severe dairy allergies, died soon after taking a few sips of the hot chocolate bought by her mother at a Costa store in Barking, east London.
Abimbola Duyile, Hannah’s mother, has told East London coroner’s court she ordered two hot chocolates made with soya milk, and told staff of her daughter’s severe dairy allergies.
However, the barista who took her order later claimed she had asked for one “extra hot” and one “normal” hot chocolate, did not specify soya milk, and merely insisted the milk jug was cleaned between making the identical drinks.
Analysis of the mother and daughter’s cups by Barking and Dagenham council found no traces of soya milk but “substantial levels” of milk protein.
Ana Sanz, the assistant manager at Costa’s Barking store at the time, has told the coroner she used Google Translate while completing her online allergy training.
On Thursday, Faton Abrashi, the company’s regional operations manager for north-west and south London, gave evidence on how staff completed their online allergy training.
He was asked about using Google Translate, and said while he was unaware that staff had used it, he did not see a problem with employees using it to check “two or three words”.
Dr Shirley Radcliffe, the assistant coroner, asked him: “Is the online training always done in English?”
“Yes,” Mr Abrashi replied.
“Do you allow any alternative languages in order to pass the test?” Dr Radcliffe asked.
“No,” Mr Abrashi responded, “we don’t because that would undermine the English language.”
Dr Radcliffe continued: “The questions posed by the quiz relate to the allergy training module. Are you aware that staff may use Google Translate to help with this quiz?”
“I was not aware,” Mr Abrashi admitted. “For two or three words on Translate… To me, it is OK.
“It is used as a form of dictionary as well. I have experienced team members say words that I have had to look up in a dictionary myself. Google Translate is not a concern for me.
“It’s not that they don’t know English, they just don’t know the word.”
The court heard the multiple-choice allergy quiz taken following the online training can only be completed once employees answer all questions correctly.
If they fail the test, they must revisit the training before attempting the quiz again. But there is no limit to the number of times the quiz can be taken. The inquest heard that one staff member having failed 20 times before passing.
“There is no limit, no restrictions [to the number of times employees can attempt the quiz],” Mr Abrashi said. “The more they fail, the stronger they know the knowledge.”
Dr Radcliffe, after reading some questions from the quiz, said: “It is quite complex. It requires a level of understanding, and you could see why if English was not your first language, you might struggle [with it].”
The coroner read from one of Mr Abrashi’s statements, in which he said the company’s training documents stated the onus was on the customer to declare their allergies.
She added: “Upon a customer notifying a member of staff of an allergy, they must refer to the allergy book.”
Costa previously did not permit anyone who had not received allergy training to serve hypersensitive customers, the inquest heard, but this has now changed so that employees who have not completed the training cannot serve any customers in any stores.
Mr Abrashi also told the inques there were around four audits for each store each year, including at least one a year from a third-party company and a “mystery customer” with allergy requirements.
He said that if the mystery customer was not shown the allergy book by their server, it would be an automatic fail.
The inquest continues.
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