Electric shock at work...Entitled to compensation ?

[lfcfan]

Hey was wondering if anyone could help.

 

my girlfriend works as a health care assistant in a Hospital.

 

Yesterday she went to unplug a machine from the socket which seemed fine but when she pulled out the plug she got quite a shock and the socket came partly off the wall.

 

She felt a lot of pain shoot all up her arm and jumped backwards.

 

Her fingers and arm started to go red and was told by a nurse to go to A&E to get seen to

.She had an ECG and then was told to fill out a datix form.

Thankfully everything was okay apart from her whole arm tingling the whole night.

Today there's no tingling but her arm still feels a bit numb.

She was told to go back in a few days to get checked out again.

 

When she got home last night she told her friend what had happened.

This friend was a health care assistant on the same ward as my girlfriend but left a few months ago to pursue another career.

Her friend told her that she had complained to a staff nurse about the very same socket months and months ago.

The staff nurse just said to her "there's a screw driver in the draw in the office".

 

this socket has been faulty for months and months and has resulted in my girlfriend getting an electric shock due to the Hospitals negligence

and failure to ensure the safety of its staff.

 

My girlfriend has taken a picture of her arm which clearly shows redness and also the socket hanging off the wall from where she pulled the plug out.

 

i'm wondering if she has a case for claiming compensation ?.

 

To be honest i'm just glad she's okay but i'm VERY annoyed that it could of been avoided had the Nurse acted accordingly once being told of the faulty socket.

 

Amazingly straight after it happened they had an electrician come and sort it.

[daipp]

First things first and vitally important, she needs to complete a report in the accident book and then take a copy of the report.

[stu007]

Hi

 

As this is to do with an electrical socket, bear in mind that all electrical items in a hospital are tested and a label stuck on them with the date tested and passed, so did that socket have a label on it to certify it had passed that test.

 

If you can actually prove that this socket was acutally reported some time ago and not sealed off so no one used this socket until fault fixed then this is also a health and safety issue as well.

 

Have they (by they I mean the senior ward staff member that was present at incident) reported the fault with this socket since this incident and prevented other from using that socket also?

Edited December 26, 2012 by stu007

[Sidewinder]

Don't necessarily agree with a compensation claim in this case - I don't think it would go too far anyway, but the H&S issue definitely needs to be escalated as if there is a next time, the damage could be real and life threatening. Accident Book, get the socket taken out of commission until it is fixed, immediate report to the management - whatever it takes to get it fixed.

[lfcfan]

I may be wrong but i think the datix form acts as an accident book.Not sure.

 

The plug has no label on it.I know the kind of label you mean as my place of work has them on all of our plugs.The only evidence that the faulty socket was reported to senior ward staff months ago is the word of my girlfriends friend.But then if it has been faulty for that long i'm sure someone else has noticed it in that time.An electrician was apparently called after the incident.Whether it has been sorted i'm not sure as she doesn't go back to work until Thursday.I do know they didn't seal off the socket as she went back to the ward after A&E to take a picture of the socket.

 

[BankFodder]

It sounds to me as if the compensation would be pretty minimal - but yes, you could get some.

 

Looking at the picture, is see that the loose screw is a wood screw so it is obviously a bitch job anyway.

Some one will get killed.

[stu007]

Hi

 

Tut tut tut to that NHS hospital so when was this socket checked and actually tested and certified as such and where is the passed label that should be on that socket.

 

This is disgraceful that they later went back to tack a photo and the socket was still like that and even more worrying is what is actually plugged into that socket.

 

Immediate action should have been taken with the being reported and sealed off until fault repaired obviously Health & Safety seems to be a lax joke with this hospital willing to put employees and patients at risk.

[Feebee_71]

Hi

 

Tut tut tut to that NHS hospital so when was this socket checked and actually tested and certified as such and where is the passed label that should be on that socket.

 

Sorry but I don't agree about this. The labels you mention are put on equipment that has been 'PAT' tested but is not put on the sockets equipment goes into - and I worked in hospitals for almost 20 years up until last year so would have seen if there were labels on the sockets!!

 

Feebee_71

[Sidewinder]

Have to agree, having seen the photo - PAT testing refers to portable appliance testing and would only cover items that are plugged into the socket, not the delivery system or equipment.

 

Having been notified of a fault however the hospital should have had this repaired as soon as possible and put out of bounds immediately.