pregnant and dangerous job, please help!

dmg24

Feisty_Fairy wrote: »

Hi yes the risk assessment was done internally, i dont think an independent one could be done as they wouldnt have enough knowledge of the clients and the potential risks.

I would disagree - there are enough small organisations in the care industry that do not have the capacity to carry out risk assessments themselves, that there will be suitable independent assessors.

MrsManda

Feisty_Fairy wrote: »

ACAS agreed that unless all risks can be removed or an alternative job is found then i am entitled to the leave with pay.

They have offered to let you work in another house and offered you a desk job so this may be enough to cover them but as Uncertain said, you need to speak to a professional employment lawyer for proper advice.

MrsE_2

Feisty_Fairy wrote: »

For them to allow me to take the garden leave that they mentioned and that i am entitled to as they cannot remove all the risks.

If they can offer you the same hours at your place of work in the less challenging house I think thats reasonable.

Morty_007

I'm sorry but I don't think they have to remove ALL risk. Just minimise and manage any remaining risk by making "reasonable adjustments" to your role. This might mean you are never left alone with a service user or that you are office based to do paperwork with no client contact. If they are offering you reasonable adjustments and you asre still unhappy then I would understand if they DO have the right to put you off sick. NO risk can ever be removed all together.

If you worked in Tesco, they could take you off the shop floor to do paperwork in case you came across a customer who was violent and aggressive or in case you dropped a tin that bounced off your tummy but even then the risks would not be nil...sitting down in a chair all day would be no good for you whatsoever either! You need to work with your employer to come to some sort of mutually agreeable position, not just expect them to bend over backwards to remove every tiny risk. Whilst I agree it must be frustrating to have it offered and then removed...I hardly think garden leave for 7 months (!?!?!) is a reasonable expectation!

Just to give this post some perspective...I'm a psychiatric nurse and a Trainer. I teach (among other things) physical restraint techniques to support the management of violence and aggression. We teach in some clinical areas and I have been told that once I start showing there will be some areas I will not be able to work in, but others will be fine (including some LD houses). I intend to continue teaching and visiting clinical areas until I am 36 weeks. The reasonable adjustments that have been made after my risk assessment are: Minimise the hours spent travelling, taking regular breaks, ensure I am not teaching physical skills alone and ensure I do not take part in any face down techniques or anythig which is physically uncomfortable. All we can do is minimise the risks. If they had to remove ALL risks...well, I can only imagine the fun we might have trying!! It's just not a reasonable expectation. It's a risk getting out of bed and crossing the road in the morning after all!

I think that you should consider going to another house if/when it becomes available.

I'm sorry if this isn't what you want to hear.

mountainofdebt

tbh I can see why your employers wanted you to sign the disclaimer....they did the risk assessment and wanted to move you to a different location but for your personal reasons decided to decline the offer.

with regards to the garden leave, I'm presuming that this will be unpaid ....or are you expecting to be paid?

Morty_007

garden leave is traditionally paid....:eek:

Googlewhacker

well said Morty!

Savvy_Sue

I'm not really sure you did yourself any favours by declining to move to another house: you're saying "I know there are risks at this house, but I'd rather stay here because of the relationships I have." So they're trying to minimise the risks, and you're saying "No".

Leave aside whether they could accommodate you elsewhere with your hours: that would have been their problem not yours, surely.

I hope you can find a way forward, but you might need to do some backtracking yourself.

Feisty_Fairy

MrsManda wrote: »

They have offered to let you work in another house and offered you a desk job so this may be enough to cover them but as Uncertain said, you need to speak to a professional employment lawyer for proper advice.

No they havent offered me either, they looked at them as possibilities but were not suitable so therefore were not offered.

Feisty_Fairy

MrsE wrote: »

If they can offer you the same hours at your place of work in the less challenging house I think thats reasonable.

They cant though.