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Industrial injury issue

Hi all,

I wonder if anyone can offer me some advice on a current issue my partner and I are having with his employers? There are a number of issues which have been ongoing, despite my partner and the other workers continually asking for some resolution to them.

My partner works for a small family business which employs only a small number of staff who are not family. The firm make and install large automated gates. The issues we have currently with the firm are:

· The firm do not provide the relevant PPE for the job, examples - it has taken them 18 months to issue waterproofs despite the job being based outside / it took them around 6 months to provide steel toe capped boots (trainers with protection were provided but were freezing cold in the winter, hence the need for boots).
· The firm do not provide any cleaning equipment to clean hands at the end of the day despite my partner always being covered in oil / resin etc.
· The firm have given basic manual handling training but not anything specific to the job, so there is no guidance on lifting gates which can weigh (literally) a tonne.
· My partner has never seen a risk assessment or method statement for any jobs he has been on, despite asking for this.
· The firm do not provide repairs to vehicles quickly, putting the workers at risk. Example – my partner’s van wing mirror was smashed by another driver and he therefore couldn’t use this when driving. It took the firm over a month to order a replacement despite him asking for them to do this daily.

All of these issues have been ongoing for the 18 months he has worked at the firm. He has suffered numerous colds / flu due to working outside in the cold / wet conditions without the correct PPE, this leads to him having to have time off sick and not getting any pay except SSP. We have raised these issues with them numerous times and every time they say they will look into it but never actually do anything.

Yesterday my partner incurred an injury at work. In the morning some gates were lifted onto a trailer by 3 men at the works yard, then my partner and one other worker were sent to the work site with these gates and expected to lift them alone (despite it taking 3 men to do this at the yard). When they attempted this my partner suffered a serious muscle injury, he came home from work and I took him to A&E where he was advised that he had torn / ripped all of the muscles between and under his ribs on the left hand side. They have advised that this will take up to 12 weeks to heal and in that time his ability to work / lift things will vary but it is likely to get worse before it gets better.

My partner has advised me that the gates they take out are never weighed, despite there being a facility at the yard to do this (which has been broken for some months and not repaired by the firm), therefore they never know how much weight they are lifting. He has also advised that there is equipment which can be used to lift gates when on site which would avoid the guys having to do it manually and potentially causing them injury, when this has been raised with the management they have dismissed this.

There are other ongoing issues with the company also, with regards to pay being wrong every month and employees all being treated differently with regards to salary and the amount paid for overtime (double time, single time etc), but that is not the main issue at the moment.

Please could someone advise me on this matter, I am tearing my hair out with the incompetence of this company and how they put their workers at risk continually.

- Should they be allowing him to come and work in the office until he is able to do his normal job again?
- Should they be paying him while he is off as this is an industrial injury (his contract says there is a company sick pay policy which runs in tandem with the SSP, but the employee handbook only mentions SSP and his employer have today said they won't pay anything other than SSP)?
- Should they be providing the type of PPE and cleaning equipment I have mentioned above?
- Should they be providing equipment to avoid the guys having to lift the gates?
- Should we be speaking with a solicitor???

Any feedback would be great, thankyou! :mad:

Comments

  • legopony wrote: »
    Hi all,

    I wonder if anyone can offer me some advice on a current issue my partner and I are having with his employers? There are a number of issues which have been ongoing, despite my partner and the other workers continually asking for some resolution to them.

    My partner works for a small family business which employs only a small number of staff who are not family. The firm make and install large automated gates. The issues we have currently with the firm are:

    · The firm do not provide the relevant PPE for the job, examples - it has taken them 18 months to issue waterproofs despite the job being based outside / it took them around 6 months to provide steel toe capped boots (trainers with protection were provided but were freezing cold in the winter, hence the need for boots).
    · The firm do not provide any cleaning equipment to clean hands at the end of the day despite my partner always being covered in oil / resin etc.
    · The firm have given basic manual handling training but not anything specific to the job, so there is no guidance on lifting gates which can weigh (literally) a tonne.
    · My partner has never seen a risk assessment or method statement for any jobs he has been on, despite asking for this.
    · The firm do not provide repairs to vehicles quickly, putting the workers at risk. Example – my partner’s van wing mirror was smashed by another driver and he therefore couldn’t use this when driving. It took the firm over a month to order a replacement despite him asking for them to do this daily.

    All of these issues have been ongoing for the 18 months he has worked at the firm. He has suffered numerous colds / flu due to working outside in the cold / wet conditions without the correct PPE, this leads to him having to have time off sick and not getting any pay except SSP. We have raised these issues with them numerous times and every time they say they will look into it but never actually do anything.

    Yesterday my partner incurred an injury at work. In the morning some gates were lifted onto a trailer by 3 men at the works yard, then my partner and one other worker were sent to the work site with these gates and expected to lift them alone (despite it taking 3 men to do this at the yard). When they attempted this my partner suffered a serious muscle injury, he came home from work and I took him to A&E where he was advised that he had torn / ripped all of the muscles between and under his ribs on the left hand side. They have advised that this will take up to 12 weeks to heal and in that time his ability to work / lift things will vary but it is likely to get worse before it gets better.

    My partner has advised me that the gates they take out are never weighed, despite there being a facility at the yard to do this (which has been broken for some months and not repaired by the firm), therefore they never know how much weight they are lifting. He has also advised that there is equipment which can be used to lift gates when on site which would avoid the guys having to do it manually and potentially causing them injury, when this has been raised with the management they have dismissed this.

    There are other ongoing issues with the company also, with regards to pay being wrong every month and employees all being treated differently with regards to salary and the amount paid for overtime (double time, single time etc), but that is not the main issue at the moment.

    Please could someone advise me on this matter, I am tearing my hair out with the incompetence of this company and how they put their workers at risk continually.

    - Should they be allowing him to come and work in the office until he is able to do his normal job again? No they don't have to
    - Should they be paying him while he is off as this is an industrial injury (his contract says there is a company sick pay policy which runs in tandem with the SSP, but the employee handbook only mentions SSP and his employer have today said they won't pay anything other than SSP)? Does the sick pay state discretionary, if not then I would be arguing this is what they should pay but you might have to fight for this.
    - Should they be providing the type of PPE and cleaning equipment I have mentioned above?Yes to PPE, not sure about the cleaning.
    - Should they be providing equipment to avoid the guys having to lift the gates? Ideally yes
    - Should we be speaking with a solicitor???Upto you but expect further trouble from the employer when they find out that you are suing.

    Any feedback would be great, thankyou! :mad:
    Have you reported this into the accident book yet?
    Take pictures of any bruising for evidence later on.
    Look for another job ideally.

    The issue regarding pay is that they can pay different people different rates as long as they are not discriminating in the eyes of the law. The late payment isn't good but if they are paying then really you can only complain but there isn't much legal process to go through until they stop paying.

    They should have insurance so even if they went pop you should be covered for injury claims if successful but employment claims maybe not.

    tough call.
    Don't trust a forum for advice. Get proper paid advice. Any advice given should always be checked
  • Morglin
    Morglin Posts: 15,922 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    I would arrange an interview with a solicitor who understands employment law - it all sounds dodgy, but a solicitor would know what the firm's actual legal obligations are.

    Lin :)
    You can tell a lot about a woman by her hands..........for instance, if they are placed around your throat, she's probably slightly upset. ;)
  • DomRavioli
    DomRavioli Posts: 3,136 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    legopony wrote: »
    Hi all,

    I wonder if anyone can offer me some advice on a current issue my partner and I are having with his employers? There are a number of issues which have been ongoing, despite my partner and the other workers continually asking for some resolution to them.

    My partner works for a small family business which employs only a small number of staff who are not family. The firm make and install large automated gates. The issues we have currently with the firm are:

    · The firm do not provide the relevant PPE for the job, examples - it has taken them 18 months to issue waterproofs despite the job being based outside / it took them around 6 months to provide steel toe capped boots (trainers with protection were provided but were freezing cold in the winter, hence the need for boots). - PPE is Personal Protective Equipment; they provided trainers with protection, they don't have to be fluffy warm ones. It is based on H & S, link : http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg174.pdf

    · The firm do not provide any cleaning equipment to clean hands at the end of the day despite my partner always being covered in oil / resin etc. - Only have to provide it if in a fixed location if it is reasonable to do so - link: http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg293.pdf
    · The firm have given basic manual handling training but not anything specific to the job, so there is no guidance on lifting gates which can weigh (literally) a tonne. - link here : http://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/pushpull/regulations.htm

    · My partner has never seen a risk assessment or method statement for any jobs he has been on, despite asking for this. - Don't know about that one!
    · The firm do not provide repairs to vehicles quickly, putting the workers at risk. Example – my partner’s van wing mirror was smashed by another driver and he therefore couldn’t use this when driving. It took the firm over a month to order a replacement despite him asking for them to do this daily.

    All of these issues have been ongoing for the 18 months he has worked at the firm. He has suffered numerous colds / flu due to working outside in the cold / wet conditions without the correct PPE, this leads to him having to have time off sick and not getting any pay except SSP. We have raised these issues with them numerous times and every time they say they will look into it but never actually do anything. - Being Cold doesn't give you a virus. A virus does - both influenza and the common cold are VIRUSES. They aren't caused by being wet and/or cold, they are just about more in the winter. He would have to have the virus in order to get one of these.


    Yesterday my partner incurred an injury at work. In the morning some gates were lifted onto a trailer by 3 men at the works yard, then my partner and one other worker were sent to the work site with these gates and expected to lift them alone (despite it taking 3 men to do this at the yard). When they attempted this my partner suffered a serious muscle injury, he came home from work and I took him to A&E where he was advised that he had torn / ripped all of the muscles between and under his ribs on the left hand side. They have advised that this will take up to 12 weeks to heal and in that time his ability to work / lift things will vary but it is likely to get worse before it gets better.

    My partner has advised me that the gates they take out are never weighed, despite there being a facility at the yard to do this (which has been broken for some months and not repaired by the firm), therefore they never know how much weight they are lifting. He has also advised that there is equipment which can be used to lift gates when on site which would avoid the guys having to do it manually and potentially causing them injury, when this has been raised with the management they have dismissed this.

    There are other ongoing issues with the company also, with regards to pay being wrong every month and employees all being treated differently with regards to salary and the amount paid for overtime (double time, single time etc), but that is not the main issue at the moment.

    Please could someone advise me on this matter, I am tearing my hair out with the incompetence of this company and how they put their workers at risk continually.

    [/FONT]Should they be allowing him to come and work in the office until he is able to do his normal job again? - That is up to the clinician as to whether he is fit for ANY work. Check the fit note given by the doctor, it will tell you.
    - Should they be paying him while he is off as this is an industrial injury (his contract says there is a company sick pay policy which runs in tandem with the SSP, but the employee handbook only mentions SSP and his employer have today said they won't pay anything other than SSP)? - [COLOR="red"]No legal requirement to pay anything above SSP. If the handbook says SSP is all they get then that is all they will get.[/COLOR]
    - Should they be providing the type of PPE and cleaning equipment I have mentioned above? - Not a legal requirement, see links above from the Health & Safety Executive.
    - Should they be providing equipment to avoid the guys having to lift the gates? - Again, see Links above, the manual handling one should cover it.
    - Should we be speaking with a solicitor??? - For what exactly? If there was a problem with the weight, it is both the employee and employer's responsibility to ensure health and safety. You could go for a free 30 minute session, but please take out the irrelevant bits (what has been clarified regarding the law)

    Any feedback would be great, thankyou! :mad:

    Hope that kind of helps. The majority of your post is niggly things that happen at most manual jobs; hopefully the links will help. A quick google brings them up, most of them the top result.

    I would also suggest going to the HSE website for further information.
  • Dom,, just on your point about the doctor saying he is fit to do the another job, if this is the case the employer isn't bound to allow it and it wouldn't come under medical suspension.
    Don't trust a forum for advice. Get proper paid advice. Any advice given should always be checked
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