Accident at work - their fault - what do I do now??

lepetit

Hi,
I had an accident at my work a couple of days ago, my back is !!!!!!ed, I am flat out. My work now I have minor back problems and certainly a history of it in my family but this accident has made it all so much worse, the doctor has said I could be out for 6 months! - and may not be able to sit at a desk for 8 hours a day ever again - which is what my job requires!

What do I do?
It's their fault I'm like this they had boxes in the middle of a walkway that I fell backwards over.
Went to A&E.

Any help much appreciated!

pipkin71

lepetit wrote: »

Hi,
I had an accident at my work a couple of days ago, my back is !!!!!!ed, I am flat out. My work now I have minor back problems and certainly a history of it in my family but this accident has made it all so much worse, the doctor has said I could be out for 6 months! - and may not be able to sit at a desk for 8 hours a day ever again - which is what my job requires!

What do I do?
It's their fault I'm like this they had boxes in the middle of a walkway that I fell backwards over.
Went to A&E.

Any help much appreciated!

Did the accident go in the accident book?

lepetit

Might have but I went off to hospital quite sharpish and then haven't returned since

Katykat

I'm trying to picture how you fell backwards. Were you walking backwards? had you already walked past the boxes & then stumbled & fell backwards? Did you see the boxes? I agree, the boxes should not have been there, but people do have to have a certain amount of responsibility too. I think you are on a sticky wicket here, especially if you have it documented that you had an existing back problem. Were you employers aware of this? You might want to have a word with your union rep

Breast_Cancer_Survivor

lepetit wrote: »

Might have but I went off to hospital quite sharpish and then haven't returned since

If you didnt report the accident & it isn't in the book you won't have a leg to stand on unfortunately.

The same kinda thing happened to my sister, she was off work for a few months before Xmas due to injuring herself at work.

Staples wouldnt even pay her sick pay & even threatened to sack her as they have an attendance management scheme & she had gone over the permitted sick day limit.

tanith

You should immediately contact your work and insist your accident be put into the book, stating all the details including who was the first person you informed of the accident. If you don't get any cooperation then ask to speak to HR Dept. Then at least its officially recorded , you can worry about whose fault etc at a later date..
I do agree with Kitkat that you do have some responsibility to look where you are going when walking around your own workplace . Also to be aware of hazards and report or remove them yourself.. I hope you feel better soon..

lepetit

I'm sure it would be in Accident book because I work for a Health & Safety company so they should really have been following everything by the book.
I was talking to a colleague and the boxes were behind me, I stepped back and fell over and into the wall on the other side of the walkway, didn't know the boxes were there.

lepetit

I've been told by a friend at work that the boxes actually were for the colleague I was talking to, she had been warned to move them already and hadn't.

mrcow

You've only been off work for a couple of days. It's far too early to be making claims that you'll never be able to do an office job again.

The main thing to do is to get your sick leave sorted out in the short term. And then see how you progress.

When are you next seeing your consultant?

bunny999

lepetit wrote: »

I'm sure it would be in Accident book because I work for a Health & Safety company so they should really have been following everything by the book.
I was talking to a colleague and the boxes were behind me, I stepped back and fell over and into the wall on the other side of the walkway, didn't know the boxes were there.

How could you not have seen the boxes ? For them to be behind you - you would have either had walk past them or towards them ? Also you had a pre- existing back condition how do you prove your back was damaged by the "accident" ?

lepetit

Very clever bunny999, how do you work out that I HAD to have walked past them or towards them???
The pain I have now is a totally different area to where I normally get back pain!

Also I have been told I probably be out for 6 months so I have just trying to stay on top of this because if they aren't going to pay me full pay I don't know what to do!