Had an accident at work, and I am now in a dilemma

[Sidewinder]

First of all, welcome to CAG and I hope that you will soon be feeling a little better.

 

Secondly, you have to tell yourself repeatedly that this isn't personal, but that you have suffered an injury which could, and should have been prevented. The attitude towards you may have become 'frosty' (no pun intended) but this is almost certainly because they know that this should have been dealt with sooner, and could land them in trouble. What you choose to do about this depends on several things.

 

Absolutely critical is that you get this put in the accident book. This is there for your protection (as well as the employer's). If you are off work for more than 3 days, they have a legal duty to report the incident to the lrelevant authority. It would also be good to get photographs of the faulty fan and area where you slipped. If you have already reported this problem and nothing was done, then this makes matters worse - why should you lose pay as a result? You might feel awkward about it, but if the injury is likely to cause problems, or if you can't afford to lose the wages, then I would make a claim for personal injury. I am normally against this course of action for genuine 'accidents' but this one could have been very serious, and the employer is negligent in allowing the risk to continue. You do not need to feel awkward about taking action as it will be the insurer rather than the manager who will have to deal with this, and just imagine if this had been a customer injured? You can guarantee that this hazard would have been dealt with immediately if it was on the shop floor, so why should employees be exposed to it without action?

 

Big companies rarely deal with these things until something like this happens!

[Sidewinder]

 

Well, it's disappointing to hear that a well known company would treat its staff like this, I have to say.

 

 

HB

 

Don't be surprised - I spend most of my days going in and out of supermarkets for a living and you would be horrified at some of the accidents waiting to happen!

[Sidewinder]

Accidents like this one and maybe the others should be reported under RIDDOR, forget what it stands for. Not reporting them is bad news for Sainsburys or anyone else, and you would be entitled to 'shop' them to the HSE if you wanted to.

 

 

Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations

[Sidewinder]

Y-b-c!!

[Sidewinder]

YBC = You've been Cagbotted!

 

No company names...

 

Would it perhaps be worth reporting to HSE, sidewinder if the manager isn't prepared to take action?

 

Absolutely! In my experience, 'Managers' are rarely aware of what their obligations are, and many haven't heard of RIDDOR, but there is a legal responsibility to report (in this case) any workplace injury requiring an absence of more than three days. The HSE (or I would guess the local Environmental Health department here as they are usually responsible for enforcement in shops) would then assess the circumstances of the event and decide whether a visit is necessary. If they visit, they will certainly check the area of the incident and any other likely hotspots in the store to gauge the general attitude to H&S, ask to see any risk assessments relevant to the incident, maintenance records for equipment involved, the Accident Book - anything they want to in fact, and it can be a major hassle for the employer concerned. In many respect they have more powers than the Police - they don't need a warrant for starters - and can issue an improvement notice or in extreme circumstances close the site on the spot!

 

The OP should consider what action he or she is prepared to take, but the LA Environmental Health office would be a good starting point with an enquiry into whether the incident was reported and if so, whether the LA have ordered the repairs to be carried out to prevent this happening again.

[Sidewinder]

Wow, what brilliant advice, thank you so much everyone! I feel much better now that I know it is actually serious. I did approach a lady from HR but was far too scared to mention so she asked me to give her a call but i never did.

 

One of the main problems for me is that i am very afraid to speak up and what the consequences will be because of that. My manager has sacked people simply because he isn't fond of them and is very unapproachable. I'm just worried that i will lose my job or have a terrible atmosphere at work. I know it is important i report this and i have to take a step, which i will, tomorrow. i will ask if it has been recorded in the accident book. i have also taken pictures too. i also have two witnesses who didnt see the accident but i went to straight away after.

 

ps. loving the pun! & thank you for the kind wecome

 

Just one more thing - how long have you worked there?

 

My manager has sacked people simply because he isn't fond of them

[/Quote]

 

He simply can't do that, but may get away with it if people haven't worked there more than 12 months, in which case there is little they can do about it.

 

You have a good deal of protection from unfavourable treatment as far as this incident is concerned irrespective of length of service. It is unlawful for you to be dismissed or otherwise treated detrimentally as a result of raising an issue of Health and Safety. Any dismissal would be considered unfair.

 

The Employment Rights Act gives protection as follows:-

 

All employees are protected by the Employment Rights Act 1996, as amended, against suffering any harm because of any reasonable actions they take on health and safety grounds. This applies regardless of their length of service.

Employees, including health and safety representatives, should not suffer harm, for instance by being denied a promotion or being dismissed unfairly, because they:

• carry out, or propose to carry out, activities that you have assigned to them in connection with preventing or reducing health and safety risks;
  
• perform, or propose to perform, functions they have as union-appointed or employee-elected health and safety representatives, or health and safety committee members;
  
• stand as a candidate in an election to be an employee representative or participate in the election by voting;
  
• bring to your attention, by reasonable means, a concern about situations at work that they reasonably believe are harmful, or potentially harmful, to health and safety;
  
• reasonably believe a situation to be of serious and imminent danger and - because they could not reasonably be expected to avert it - they leave or propose to leave the workplace or any dangerous part of it, or if they refuse to return while the danger continues; and
  
• reasonably believe a situation to be of serious and imminent danger, and take or propose to take appropriate steps to protect themselves and others. This is to be judged by looking at all knowledge, facilities and advice available at the time.
  

In your circumstances you have raised a concern, this has been ignored and now you have suffered as a consequence. Actions involving refusing to work in that area until the danger is eliminated or protection given to minimise the risk of harm, or taking action in order to recover losses suffered as a result of an event you had previously warned them about, or involving the Environmental Health as the manager had previously failed to act on your warning - would all be considered 'reasonable' in the circumstances. Any unfavourable treatment by your manager would then entitle you to raise a grievance, and if the treatment continued, pursue a legal course, however quoting some of the above would almost certainly be enough to get management bending over backwards to safeguard your welfare!