Losing toe

Valli

A couple of points -

You are still entitled to join a Union even if the company you are employed by doesn't 'have one'.

Too late for you now BUT any accident at work should be recorded in the accident book. It isn't a case of being 'stoic' ar 'not the kind of person'; Accidents which are (at first view) minor accidents are not acted upon anyway but they can bring to light problems with working conditions or need for enhanced safety procedures. The recording of them protects the 'victim' if problems develop later.

In my professional role I have had one minor accident that caused the victim (not me; I was the first aider) an ongoing problem - so we had to check back months later to check that the accident HAD indeed been logged - for a timescale for the Doctor who is considering surgery as the person has a facial injury which may have caused a permanent (but minor) disfigurement!

ohreally

kevhky wrote: »

No I'm not in a union the company don't have one

Trade unions are not company provided affairs.

Choose an appropriate union, do a little research and consider joining.

dickydonkin wrote: »

There is a lot of misinformation on here.

Nothing unusual.

brendon

Although I don't no much about this situation, I wouldn't listen to anybody here as they don't know anything either. My gut feeling it that your employer is still liable due to H&S. I'd look for a decent solicitor. These cases usually end in settlement, as the employer doesn't want the hassle of seeing the case through.

kevhky

I have to keep informing Health and Safety at Head office of any changes / appointments throughout

The large company I work for don't pay sick pay only ssp but I've been told on the ssshhhhh. That they are arranging for me to be paid in full whilst I'm off for operation

Regards

ShadowPuma

Ok, you have two bad points that I can see here:

-The Accident book issues - 2 months or 6 months? I bet that is outside the company policy.

- The amount of time it was before you seeked medical advice - Work can say they would have sent you straight to get medical advice if they knew.

Not saying its going to kill your chances but its does give work some room to say they aren't totally responsible.

dickydonkin

brendon wrote: »

Although I don't no much about this situation, I wouldn't listen to anybody here as they don't know anything either. My gut feeling it that your employer is still liable due to H&S. I'd look for a decent solicitor. These cases usually end in settlement, as the employer doesn't want the hassle of seeing the case through.

It's not just the 'hassle' that is involved with defending a civil claim but also the costs.

I have now detected a change in some organisations where they used to just pay up irrespective of where there was potential negligence or not. Certainly the organisation I now work for defend every claim and have a good success rate at doing so.

New legislation introduced into the Health & Safety at Work Act now does not mean that a breach of the act by an employer can automatically imply that there is a civil claim. If it can be proven that despite an injury, the employer did everything that was 'reasonably practicable' to prevent an injury, then it would be difficult to prove negligence in a civil claim.

For example, if a company had a a good maintenance programme, suitable risk assesments and a good health and safety record and a part in a machine failed causing injury to the operator then arguably the employer would not be liable as the failure of the component would not be reasonably forseeable and the company would have no control of the integrity of the part that was supplied externally.

Whether the removal of strict liability will make any difference to our claims culture remains to be seen however.

J_i_m

Your employer may not have provided steel capped shoes,

But...

Do you have health and safety training? And does it advise on the use PPE, in particular steel capped boots?

If your employer provided that training and can prove that you attended it, then they could successfully argue that you didn't put the training into use.

Health and safety is the responsibility of everybody, you might want to peruse the Heath and safety at work act 1974 as well as your employers polices before placing a claim.

But anyway... If I were you, I'd be buying myself a good pair of steel capped shoes before returning to work

kevhky

No PPE mentioned at all no mention of toe protective foot wear only leather full foot covered shoes which I always were

Regards to training and movement of the trolley everything was carried out as trained / required

Regards

J_i_m

Then, in interests of improving health and safety in your workplace, if you have a return to work interview, or appraisal and supervision suggest to them that it light of your accident that it would be a good to review the risk assessment and the policy regarding PPE.

dickydonkin

J_i_m wrote: »

Health and safety is the responsibility of everybody, you might want to peruse the Heath and safety at work act 1974 as well as your employers polices before placing a claim.

But anyway... If I were you, I'd be buying myself a good pair of steel capped shoes before returning to work

The only sections of the act relevant to the OP would be sections 7 and 8 - however, perhaps the employer may wish to peruse (in particular) section 2 of the act.

As for the safety boots (re- section 9 of the Health and Safety Act 1974) which clearly indicates that no employee should pay for anything relating to his/her own health and safety - i.e. safety equipment/clothing/training etc.