Sports direct- daughter injured

Forwandert

Did you actually ask to speak to the store manager? usually access to accident books etc will be through them as they need to know about any accidents that have happened in the store incase they need to further report them. The response from the manager may have been slightly different to a response from a sales assistant as they tend not to be trained at all in anything relating to accidents.

Mindless_Clone

meritaten wrote: »

Stores have a duty of care towards customers and staff. Health and Safety regulations require that when placing stock it isnt just piled haphazardly any old where. You DO have to play the 'What if' game and ensure that product is not put where it could injure a customer or member of staff.
and if a customer reports a hazard then it should be noted and refered upwards.
if a customer is injured you ALWAYS enter that injury and the circumstances in the stores Accident book.
This is basic - this is supposed to be drummed into staff during staff training!

This. ^

It doens't actually matter who it happened to or what happened; a person was hurt on their premises. The store should have recorded the incident in the accident book.
This is one time when Health and Safety laws do have it just right. The purpose of entering it in the accident book isn't to allow the victim to make a claim but rather to assess how the incident happened and what can be done to prevent it in future. Sometimes, s*** does just happen so the investigation into accidents ends up with a "no further action required". Most times though, there's usually some actions, even if it's telling a staff member who stubbed their toe to watch where they are walking in future. When I used to have to trawl through all the staff and customer accidents at work - I was a retail manager before you ask - we would record every single little incident, no matter how small, no matter who was responsible. Child hit his brother over the head? If it happened in our shop and a first aider attended, it was recorded.
It might sound silly and like overkill but this it the way serious accidents are prevented and this is the way stores (and employers) can show due diligence in the event of incidents.

OP I would go back to the store - perhaps phone them up first, or phone HO - and ask to speak to a manager and have the incident logged in their accident book. This way it's down on record and should there be any come back (for your daughter or for the store if something similar happens in future) you have it documented. Don't mention compensation or anything; you've already said you don't want any so don't push for it. If they offer though, I wouldn't refuse.

paddyrg

What if it had been a whole shelf full of bowling balls followed by javelins then lawnmowers, and it had been a wheelchair-bound baby with a heart condition?

I apologise OP, it must have been worrying and I am pleased your daughter is OK if a little shaken. I suspect you'll get little beyond a standard 'oh dear but we admit nothing' letter back (they will not say anything admitting any kind of liability), and the SD customer profile probably has more overlap with the claim4anything injury lawyers customer profile than (say) John Lewis, so they will probably take a hard-nosed stand. I think it is vote with your feet time. Again, glad to hear your daughter is ok!

csn_2

As a SD employee, I fully understand the situation.

At a basic shop assistant level, we are told the accident book exists but not what to do if a customer is injured or almost injured - this is for the managers (blue shirts) to deal with as they have been trained in all this.

In my store the big holdall-type bags are behind the till on secure metal shelves which do not fall off, as they have a ridge. The smaller ones, however, are on plastic shelves which sometimes, if the wall is disturbed (kids kicking footballs at it are more common than you think!) or it's not balanced perfectly... the bag will sometimes fall off.

I have raised this problem with the manager but I'm sure, as in most big businesses, it is taking its slow crawl up the queue of things to fix...

...unfortunately this is a consequence of the fact that the stores are packed as full as they can with stock, and even then we seem to run out of what everybody wants! Older stores are more prone to this, newer stores e.g. Westfield Stratford are much more easy to navigate!

lucy03

Mindless_Clone wrote: »

This. ^

It doens't actually matter who it happened to or what happened; a person was hurt on their premises. The store should have recorded the incident in the accident book.
This is one time when Health and Safety laws do have it just right. The purpose of entering it in the accident book isn't to allow the victim to make a claim but rather to assess how the incident happened and what can be done to prevent it in future. Sometimes, s*** does just happen so the investigation into accidents ends up with a "no further action required". Most times though, there's usually some actions, even if it's telling a staff member who stubbed their toe to watch where they are walking in future. When I used to have to trawl through all the staff and customer accidents at work - I was a retail manager before you ask - we would record every single little incident, no matter how small, no matter who was responsible. Child hit his brother over the head? If it happened in our shop and a first aider attended, it was recorded.
It might sound silly and like overkill but this it the way serious accidents are prevented and this is the way stores (and employers) can show due diligence in the event of incidents.

Absolutely, I would contact the local council's health and safety regulatory officer. From experience, they would nearly always like to be informed of matters like this as very often of course it's the same businesses who aren't on top of health and safety issues which are the most likely to have future issues.

Azari

The_Black_Sheep wrote: »

And if my aunty had b*llocks she'd be my uncle.

What if it had fallen on a baby? What if it had been a frail elderly woman? What if it hadn't been a bag? And so on...

The issue is what did happen, not what could have happened.

This is the sort of moronic attitude that allows people to be killed or seriously injured.

Intelligent people and companies learn from their mistakes.

Idiots see something that could potentially cause serious harm and say: "Meh, nothing happened, forget it."

Velcro_Hotdog

Sue them all I say

Sue Sports Direct for not ensuring that gravity doesn’t work in their store
Sue the bag maker for not making a bag that’s capable of dodging people as it falls
Sue the staff for not caring that your daughter wasn’t injured
Sue the managers for employing staff who don’t care that nothing serious happened
And if there's anyone left to sue then sue them as well just to make sure

Or just get on with your life and accept it was an accident and that luckily no one was hurt

spadoosh

Velcro_Hotdog wrote: »

Sue them all I say

Sue Sports Direct for not ensuring that gravity doesn’t work in their store
Sue the bag maker for not making a bag that’s capable of dodging people as it falls
Sue the staff for not caring that your daughter wasn’t injured
Sue the managers for employing staff who don’t care that nothing serious happened
And if there's anyone left to sue then sue them as well just to make sure

Or just get on with your life and accept it was an accident and that luckily no one was hurt

Awesomely valuable post, keep up the valid contributions! Or just get on with your life and dont be a tool in forums?!

meritaten

csn wrote: »

As a SD employee, I fully understand the situation.

At a basic shop assistant level, we are told the accident book exists but not what to do if a customer is injured or almost injured - this is for the managers (blue shirts) to deal with as they have been trained in all this.

In my store the big holdall-type bags are behind the till on secure metal shelves which do not fall off, as they have a ridge. The smaller ones, however, are on plastic shelves which sometimes, if the wall is disturbed (kids kicking footballs at it are more common than you think!) or it's not balanced perfectly... the bag will sometimes fall off.

I have raised this problem with the manager but I'm sure, as in most big businesses, it is taking its slow crawl up the queue of things to fix...

...unfortunately this is a consequence of the fact that the stores are packed as full as they can with stock, and even then we seem to run out of what everybody wants! Older stores are more prone to this, newer stores e.g. Westfield Stratford are much more easy to navigate!

I find this unacceptable - even when I started in the retail trade over 40 years ago, when staff training was almost unheard of - there was a clear instruction to call the supervisor/manager if any 'incident' took place. over the last 20 odd years every single store I have worked in, have included health and safety issues as a required part of training before you are let loose on the shop floor!

The reason stores have 'stock rooms' is so that enough stock can be carried to satisfy demand - while making the shop floor SAFE for customers and staff.

Sounds to me like Your company runs stores very badly with no thought at all for the safety of its' customers or staff!

thanks for the heads up OP - I have never shopped in this store and now know to avoid it!

Hmm71

Experting wrote: »

Just let the head office know about what happened, but accidents do happen. But yeah it is abit of health & safety hazard in some of their shops and i suppose a fire hazard its always rammed full of stock in there, but thats why its so cheap i suppose.




They props didnt give u a plaster because "health & safety" in case you are allergic to them ^_^. This world is H&S mad.

No, no, no! NOT Health and Safety mad, more like avoid being sued at all costs mad.