Fell at work

[djgordyp]

Hi again. This morning, right at the start of the working day (7am), I slipped on a slippery substance on the floor and fell on my back. Apart from muscular pain in my neck, which has eased a bit now, and a bit of a light head when I went to change my boiler suit, I'm ok unless it gets worse overnight. It turns out that one of the guys who works in the same area as me had reported this problem back in January. In fact the H&S officer told me that he had brought this up at the H&S meeting.

If it does turn out that I need to take time off and put in a claim. what effect would the employers prior knowledge of this hazard have on any outcome.

I'm the sort of person who just gets up and carries on as usual. Therefore I didn't bother reporting the incident until after the first tea break, although two supervisors were aware of what happened. Apart from that, it is the first time in my 11 years of working there that I had to reprt an accident so I wasn't quite sure of who was the first person to contact. When filling out the form, the H&S officer suggested that if I wasn't feeling fit to work then 'I should go home and rest'.

Would these last two issues (not reporting the fall immediatly and not going home when suggested) count against me.

Most likley I will be fine although it's strange that falling on my back injured my neck. So therefore these quetions would sort of fall into the 'forewarned is forearmed' category

[Sidewinder]

Did the employer take any steps whatsoever to remove the hazard on the previous occasion? Was the liquid leaking from plant or machinery or as a direct result of any workplace activity? Is the 'leak' present all of the time or could the employer know or believe that this area is prone to a slip hazard from time to time?

These would all be relevant questions in the event of this needing to be followed up. In the event of an accident claim it would not count against you if the claim were for an injury which only became apparent later.

Were you seen at any time by a First Aider? Do you know who the First Aider is in your section? You say that you filled in a form - was this in the Accident Book? If teh staff are not made aware of correct procedure then how were you to knoe what action to take?

Should it be neccessary to take three or more consecutive days sick as a result of your injury then this will become a reportable incident under RIDDOR which would most likely trigger a visit and a fair amount of inconvenience for the employer. Whether you intend to claim or not though, you need to be careful with a neck injury and should have it assessed if you have significant or prolonged pain.