Staff at Costa Coffee branch where girl, 13, died ‘used Google Translate for allergy training’

15 August 2024, 20:26

Staff working at the Costa Coffee branch where a 13-year-old girl died "used Google Translate for allergy training", an inquest has heard.

Hannah Jacobs, from Barking, died within hours of taking a sip of a hot chocolate bought for her by her mother on February 8, 2023, East London Coroner's Court was told.

The schoolgirl, who had allergies to dairy, fish and eggs, suffered an "immediate reaction" from the drink, which was supposed to be made with soya milk.

Faton Abrashi, a regional operations manager for Costa Coffee stores in London whose responsibilities include allergy procedures for staff, told the court on Thursday that baristas were only allowed to serve customers who had stated they had an allergy when ordering if they had completed specific allergy safety training.

The court was shown online modules used to train new staff regarding allergens that could be accessed on a mobile phone and included a quiz trainees had to successfully complete.

Mr Abrashi confirmed that, as of February 2023, there was no requirement to complete the online modules in the presence of colleagues and they could be done at home.

He said the online training is only provided in English, with no other language options, and he, as a regional manager, would not be aware how many times a trainee had attempted the quiz before they passed.

Read more: Mum of girl, 13, who died after single sip of Costa hot chocolate warned staff about her allergies and was 'extra picky'

Read more: Schoolgirl, 13, dies after suffering severe allergic reaction to Costa hot chocolate

Urmi Akter, who had been working at the Costa branch in Barking for around eight months, took the order for the takeaway drinks from Hannah's mother and gave evidence to the inquest at an earlier hearing while seated next to a Bengali interpreter.

In a previous hearing, Emily Slocombe, representing Hannah's family, asked Ms Akter questions including whether she had been given training in her own language, if she knew what an allergen was, and also if she knew the potential consequences of being subject to any allergy.

The court was shown the training record for Ms Akter which stated she had completed the allergens safety course in September 2022.

When asked by assistant coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe whether Mr Abrashi was aware that staff may have used Google Translate to help complete their online training, the former store manager replied: "I wasn't aware, but to me it's okay for a few words.

"To my understanding, Google Translate is used as a dictionary as well. It's not concerning for me.

"To my understanding, it's not that they don't know English - it's that they don't understand a certain word."

The court was shown a witness statement from a Costa barista which read: "I don't know what an allergen is but we have a book that shows us what is in our food and drinks."

Dr Radcliffe asked Mr Abrashi: "Would you expect your staff, having done the training, expect them to have an understanding of the term 'allergen'?"

"Not necessarily," he replied, adding he would expect trained staff to understand that certain ingredients could "trigger a range of symptoms" that may be fatal.

The court was told of an example where a Costa barista had failed the online quiz 20 times before passing.

Ms Slocombe asked whether someone needing to retake the test a number of times could indicate they were struggling with the language used in the training.

Mr Abrashi responded: "It tells me more that this person was trying to rush it and get to the quiz.

"I wouldn't put the understanding of English in this.

He went on to say: "Having training in a different language undermines the English language.

"If they can't understand English in the first place, how would they be able to describe to the customer in English?"

The court was read a witness statement from a barista who started working at Costa in October 2022 that said: "On the first day I started behind the till taking orders, my husband came to work with me to translate.

"When reading English I use Google Translate to help me."

The witness added she had used the mobile translation app to help complete her staff training modules.

The inquest previously heard there is a factual dispute about the order and Ms Duyile says she asked for two soya hot chocolates and asked staff to thoroughly clean the equipment.

A post-mortem examination found Hannah died after suffering from a hypersensitve anaphylactic reaction triggered by an ingredient in her hot chocolate that caused an allergic response.