People using staff toilets at an IKEA distribution centre were filmed on cameras aimed at catching drug misuse. The company has admitted the CCTV cameras were put inside the communal areas of both the male and female bathrooms at its Peterborough centre.
It confirmed the devices were installed in ceiling voids above and around 10 toilets at the site in November 2015. However an investigation has been carried out after staff spotted the cameras and raised questions over their privacy, reports Cambridgeshire Live.
IKEA has now apologised and said it was done with the intention of ensuring health and safety. It said at no time was inside the stalls filmed.
The inquiry was carried out by IKEA together with third party experts. It was launched last September and has now been concluded with the findings passed on to the Commissioner's Office, the government department which regulated data privacy.
It found that the cameras were installed in November 2015 and remained in use until July 24,2017. They were taken down after they were spotted by staff.
According to the investigation the cameras did not film inside the toilet stalls. IKEA says they were only put in place to capture "irregular activity in the ceiling voids" following "serious concerns about the use of drugs on site" after false urine samples were submitted to the company.
However the store confirmed two cameras recorded communal areas for a short period in 2017, one in a men's bathroom and one in a women's bathroom, "as a result of ceiling tiles becoming dislodged". It added it had revised its camera policies since 2015 and had done so again following the revelations.
A spokesperson said: "In November 2015, cameras were installed in the ceiling voids above, and corridors outside, 10 bathroom facilities across our Peterborough Distribution Centre. While the intention at the time was to ensure the health and safety of co-workers, we understand the fact that colleagues were filmed unknowingly in these circumstances will have caused real concern; and for this we are sincerely sorry.
"Their installation followed serious concerns about the use of drugs onsite, which, owing to the nature of work carried out at the site, could have very serious consequences for the safety of our co-workers. The cameras placed within the voids were positioned only to record irregular activity in the ceiling voids.
"They were not intended to, and did not, record footage in the toilet cubicles themselves. However, as a result of ceiling tiles becoming dislodged, two cameras inadvertently recorded footage of the communal areas of two bathrooms for a period of time in 2017.
"The footage was not viewed at the time and was only recovered as part of these investigations. While our policies for the use of cameras have been updated since 2015, following this incident we have carefully reviewed and revised our policies once again to set out very strict controls for their use at any of our sites."
Footage in which employees were captured was reviewed by a third-party investigation team, IKEA says, with only female investigators viewing what was recorded in the women's bathroom and only male investigators viewing that which was recorded in the men's. Their findings are now with the ICO.
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