can anyone give me any advice on this situation?

rach!_3

i think what makes it hard to maneuver around it is there are skips placed near it too,
without a handbook how else could we familiarise with the procedures and policies? would they be on the website do you think?

rach!_3

bank_of_slate wrote: »

Is the larger machine in a different classification or category?
...Linda xx

im not sure i will ask him this when he gets home or rings

bank_of_slate

rach! wrote: »

i think what makes it hard to maneuver around it is there are skips placed near it too,
without a handbook how else could we familiarise with the procedures and policies? would they be on the website do you think?

Quite possibly, is there a HR department?
All employees must have access to the policies and procedures. and should have been given copies of them when they are employed and when the policies are changed or updated.
This place sounds like a H&S nightmare!!!!

kazwookie

Ok so he is driving a bigger machine, but was this machine suitable for the work place, ie not too big for the lanes / roads / area it has to travel up and down while working / was it also suitable for the work it had to do.?

The smaller one may have been fine, but as anything adjusted to this bigger machine?

rach!_3

hi all,
quick update, he handed his notice in but was asked to rethink it and after a long think he didnt bother, so we are trying to get as good a case as we can for the disciplinary hearing,
he is going to see if he can get an employee handbook.
i have some things written down, and would like more opinions but dont want to put it on here, any idea where i can find someone who knows what kind of things they will ask etc?
although we believe he has a good case with all we have written down.

rach!_3

hi all, had disciplinary hearing today, and now he has to wait for another disciplinary.
As the person in charge wants 2 more statements (one from another employee and one from my partner) and for an instructor to sit in the vehicle and say whether the girder could have been missed.
so he has to wait for another ???????? who knows how long, until they decide to have the 2nd hearing. does anyone have any advice etc?
the last person that did it ot fired in the 1st hearing so surely this means his case is too good,which is why they want a 2nd one?

Horace

Rach - your OH needs to ask HR for a copy of the employee handbook as well as their disciplinary procedures - they have to provide them, that's the law.

I dont think that the employer has started a new disciplinary, they have postponed the current one so that they can gather more information as to why the accident occurred in the first place - is the girder too low or whatever, is there adequate signage, has your OH received instruction on how to drive this particular vehicle, is it the same classification as the smaller one that he is used to driving etc. etc.

What does the union rep say - one hopes that he took one with him to the disciplinary?

rach!_3

Hiya
we have had a look at someone's handbook and disciplinary procedures.
No, they havent started a new one, but he has to have another hearing with more evidence,
he has had training but not as good as the training for the other vehicle i.e. smaller vehicle training involved an obstacle course which helped him to get through tight spaces/round obstacles etc where as the larger machine training was just basically how to drive it.
he didnt take a union rep but took his line manager who is also a friend of his into the hearing with him.

ts_aly2000

I've only just stumbled across this thread, so I may as well throw my oar in having read through it..

I think that the company is being bloody ridiculous! Accidents happen, mistakes get made, THAT's LIFE!

Your hubby should NOT lose his job. Frankly there shouldn't even be this much attention and scrutiny over it. They're just using it as an excuse to justify their existence as Management.

If I was the Manager then I'd tell him to be a bit more bloody careful, and send him out in the thing on a field when everyone's gone home. Problem solved. End of.

LinasPilibaitisisbatman

ts_aly2000 wrote: »

I've only just stumbled across this thread, so I may as well throw my oar in having read through it..

I think that the company is being bloody ridiculous! Accidents happen, mistakes get made, THAT's LIFE!

Your hubby should NOT lose his job. Frankly there shouldn't even be this much attention and scrutiny over it. They're just using it as an excuse to justify their existence as Management.

If I was the Manager then I'd tell him to be a bit more bloody careful, and send him out in the thing on a field when everyone's gone home. Problem solved. End of.

And you are the sort of manager who gets their company sued.

No-one has even said there is any wrong doing, as a professional driver accidents will be of concern to employers.

It will come down to how much of an accident it was and whether it was down to neglience/poor driving.

If it turns out to have been a genuine accident or unavoidable then I doubt anything will happen - unless there is previous. If the OH turns out to have been neglient, or made a few similar mistakes then he may well be dismissed.

If the company didnt and he later killed someone or did serious damage and it was discovered they had ignored previous incidents they could well be in the crap.