Urgent help please!

andy01502

Im a baker by trade

Cut a long story short:

The top deck on the oven is above head height so i have to stand on a broken plastic stool which will break one day with me on it... Also the shovel i use to get the bread out of the top deck is broke which means i have to lean in the oven and always burn the top of my arms.

We also have bread racks which carry upto 100 loaves of bread and when they are full they are VERY heavy! And they only have three wheels because one has fallen off!

I have spoke to the boss and manager about them and nothing ever gets done.

What do i do from a health and safety point of view? Keep burning my arms? Keep standing on a broken stool? or keep using bread racks with three wheels?

Any help would be great! Thankyou in advance.

Mark_h_4

Do you have a health and saftey rep you can speak to? if you have spoken to your manager and his boss then really I'd ask for a HR contact next if there is one.

andy01502

HR ive spoke to aswell noone seems to care... Ive just got to get on with the job... where do i go from here?

Jarndyce

This is shocking.

If you are not in a union, join one now. Otherwise, or aswell, put your concerns in writing to your boss. Keep a copy. If nothing happens very quickly, get the union's health and safety rep to visit and/or call in the HSE.

Mark_h_4

Jarndyce wrote: »

This is shocking.

If you are not in a union, join one now. Otherwise, or aswell, put your concerns in writing to your boss. Keep a copy. If nothing happens very quickly, get the union's health and safety rep to visit and/or call in the HSE.

Agreed you cant work in that condition and I'd suspect its against the law for you to as well.

andy01502

Ive only started there in september... i dont want to get off on the wrong foot. The other lad who covers my shift on my days off has long arms, but because im short i have to use the stool and short shovel.

Mark_h_4

Irrelivant. You should be given the apropriate tools in order to do your job safely.

bap98189

You need to take some personal responsibility here. If you think the work is dangerous take appropriate steps to sort it out. If you have already informed your manager and nothing has happened then you need to raise this further. Put your concerns in writing and send them to someone higher up in the business. If the company has no Health & Safety officer, speak to one of the company directors as they ultimately are personally responsible for how the company operates.

If you think a particular part of the job is particularly dangerous and likely to cause you physical harm, then refuse to do it until an appropriate method is put into practice.

andy01502

Its the company director who ive told aswell as the manager, there is noone else in the company to tell.

getmore4less

Every time you burn yourself put it in the accident book.

What are the first aid requirements for a bakery premisis?

You could get the local Health&safety and fire officers in for an risk assesment/inspection.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/contact/index.htm


Might be an idea to be looking for another job.

dancingfairy

Hi. I think you MAY be able to do a disclosure under the Public Interest Disclosure Act (1998?).
Basically as far as I understand it you have some protection from retaliatory dismissal if you meet various criteria.
The criteria are:
1) if there is a criminal offence
2) a breach of a legal obligation
3) an endangerment of health and safety
There are some more but I suspect 1 or more of the above is relevant.

You have informed the relevant people at your company and nothing has been done - have you done this in writing? I believe that you can then contact the relevant outside body and report things - in this case I guess it might be the HSE (the health and safety executive). You might benefit from a trip to the CAB or local law centre on this one (and/or google the things I have mentioned).
I would like to add that I only have a very, very basic understanding of the Act and that I am no way qualified which is why I suggest you seek a qualified professional.
Best of Luck
df