Anonymous complaint has come back to bite me

flufff

Sounds a little like constructive dismissal if employer is behaving unreasonably or breached contractual obligations.
Remedies arent great.Look up employment tribunal service and start looking for other employment.Good luck x

wonderpupp

Ah, from the employers side:
We had an "anonymous" complaint made to the HSE about out powdercoating plant.
It didn't take much to figure out who it was. In charge of health and safety, I invited the HSE to come down and view for themselves, look at our risk assessments, etc.
they came down, had a look and went home satisfied.

It is your right to write down any accidents, inciedents or near misses in the company accident book.
If you do this, there is a written record of it, and HSE will find it 1000% easier to investigate with an accident book record to show for it.

You can't get fired for this.

If they bully you, pull up a greviance that you are being bullied.

If they make you feel like you want to leave, gather evidence and leave. Then go for constructive dismissal.

OR stop being awkward and get on with your work, as long as it is reasonably practicable to do so.

dickydonkin

wonderpupp wrote: »

Ah, from the employers side:
We had an "anonymous" complaint made to the HSE about out powdercoating plant.
It didn't take much to figure out who it was. In charge of health and safety, I invited the HSE to come down and view for themselves, look at our risk assessments, etc.
they came down, had a look and went home satisfied.

It is your right to write down any accidents, inciedents or near misses in the company accident book.
If you do this, there is a written record of it, and HSE will find it 1000% easier to investigate with an accident book record to show for it.

You can't get fired for this.

If they bully you, pull up a greviance that you are being bullied.

If they make you feel like you want to leave, gather evidence and leave. Then go for constructive dismissal.

OR stop being awkward and get on with your work, as long as it is reasonably practicable to do so.

An interesting point here is that after someone reported the company to the HSE, YOU invited them to come and investigate. I am not suggesting you did not offer an invitation, however, when they are tipped off, Inspectors will usually 'invite themselves' by telling you when they will be arriving -or just arrive on your doorstep.

It is certainly the right (and indeed should be encouraged and adopted as part of company procedures) for employees to report accidents and incidents, however, you are then delving into reactive monitoring (albeit not by choice) which is undesireable. By virtue of there being an incident indicates there has been a failing.

What I can gather from the OP's situation is that s/he is being proactive by trying to draw attention to shortcomings in the H&S arrangements in the workplace -and as it seems there has been an 'incident', the OP may have had a valid point.

What should never happen is that the culture in a workplace discourages (by whatever means) employees highlighting potential risks in a working environment.

What is disappointing is that people feel the need to 'shop' their employers - something I would discourage - but an action sometimes necessary when all other options have been exhausted.

The trouble today is that many people do not have easy access to qualified H&S professionals and this can be a problem as many employees and indeed employers are not aware of legislation and safe practices. The H&S 'poison chalice' is usually handed to unqualified personnel or to someone in the HR department who will have a mountain of their own work to contend with.

I can understand why someone would sprag on their employer because in a lot of cases, they just have no access to good H&S information and/or employers just don't care about the welfare of their staff.

As you are 'in charge' of Health & Safety, I wondered what qualifications and experience you actually have, however, the question was answered when you stated this:

OR stop being awkward and get on with your work, as long as it is reasonably practicable to do so

Lamentable and makes no sense - but not surprising due to;

Ah, from the employers side

nigel411

Thanks for the replies, I have taken a few notes while I work out my next step.

So far this week things have been quiet and had no-one come up to me or ask questions.

Faults have been found and the management are correcting them.

Gordon_Hose

You made a complaint, grow a pair, stand tall and have confidence in what you believe in.

If your employer is genuinely breaching H&S policy, and they've done nothing about it then you've taken the next reasonable step.

If the confidential complaints line specifically state they won't pass your name on, then complain to them. If they didn't pass your name on and your employer put 2 and 2 together and promptly came up with your name, then take it on the chin. What's to worry about?