accident at work and docked a days pay!

annie123

Advice needed please

My son, last Thursday, had an accident at work.
He was checking in goods that arrived in a cage, only the cage door lock didn't work so someone tied it up with 3 cable ties and left the ends sticking out and pointing up wards.
As he was going down the cage checking boxes, the end of the tie (first time he had noticed them) went into the corner of his eye, basically between eyeball and upper lid.

It was reported in the store accident book and the store has a pharmacy, so the pharmacist checked him over.
He worked the remaining 3 hours of his shift after being given an eye patch to wear.

As the evening turned to night it continued to swell up and felt very painful. He eventually fell asleep around 5am, after taking more more painkillers than he should have.

He slept through the alarm and was woken up by his work calling him to see why he was late.
He explained re eye and was told to phone in on Sunday if he thought he would need Monday off too.

He went into work on Monday, (still with blurred vision and swollen eye )and has been there every day since.
The swelling has gone down now and his vision is now OK too.

He is payed weekly and today discovered they have docked a days sick for last Friday.
He has also had a letter saying he is to have a review meeting next week as he did not follow company sickness procedure and this could result in dismissal!!.

To me this seems so unreasonable,he was off sick, because of the injury he sustained at work.
He has worked in retail for many years and has never known a company to use broken cages to deliver goods to the store for safety reasons.

He is still on probation there so doesn't want to kick up a fuss, but the docked pay and meeting next week seem so unfair.
He doesn't want to end up enemployed again.

Is he being treated fairly?

MrRedundant

All seems perfectly reasonable to me.

There are processes he can follow if he feels the accident was their fault independent of this.

bristol_pilot

He should have his eye checked by a doctor and report the firm to HSE. No doubt the firm has all its risk assessment documentation fully up to date, ship shape etc....or not. He could have lost an eye - and so could someone else in future - far more important than a day's pay.

annie123

bristol_pilot wrote: »

He could have lost an eye - and so could someone else in future - far more important than a day's pay.

Good point, very true.

he's had it checked, all ok now.
Hadn't thought about HSE, will suggest to him he calls them.
Thank you

annie123

MrRedundant wrote: »

All seems perfectly reasonable to me.

There are processes he can follow if he feels the accident was their fault independent of this.

could you say what processes please.
thank you

Googlewhacker

annie123 wrote: »

could you say what processes please.
thank you

Solicitors to sue for loss of earnings etc.

VfM4meplse

I have no idea how the patch was expected to be of any benefit but presumably the pharmacy staff will be able to verify that your son sought assistance after the industrial injury, corroborate the time etc

Oldernotwiser

Was the accident officially recorded at the time it happened?

annie123

As he's on probation he doesn't want to sue or make a fuss.
He's not looking to make money out of it, just wants to keep his job and thinks they could have paid him for the day off (cheaper than being sued as he earns £6ph) thinks its unfair he's being hauled up for what sounds like a disciplinary hearing.

All recorded in the accident book he's been told, and the pharmacist, (I assume is a first aider too) gave him an eye patch to keep dust/dirt out of it as he works in the stockroom and it looks better for customers when he goes on the shop floor not to have a bloodshot eye.
They did ask him if he wanted to go home but he is/was trying to be as helpful and proactive as he can so he said he would stay till the end of his shift.

HO87

Has there been an investigation of the accident? As your son missed the following working day/shift as a direct result of the injury (regardless of the fact that he omitted to report sick) this should be dealt with as a lost time injury and may amount to an incident reportable under the RIDDOR rules. At the very least one would hope that a responsible employer would want to ensure that a recurrence was avoided and the failure of goods cages is hardly unknown. He should contact the Health & Safety rep at his place of work.

Emmzi

My background - work in HR, have to deal with absence management. So this may sound harsh, but it is employers perspective.

No doubt at his induction day he waas told the procedure for sick days, which I would expect to be to call in about an hour before his shift - not have the manager phone him.

this is why they are saying he hasn't followed procedure. And, he hasn't. Therefore he is in the wrong.

If you want him through probabtion, he apologises for not calling in, explains he was tired and slept through, but if it happens again and he is up ill, he will set a second alarm (or the phone to ring or whatever).

If he is not bothered about getting kept on and has an ongoing eye problem following this, start an insurance claim.