Sickness and Workplace Accidents

Robin-o'-the-Hood

Hello and apologies if this is the wrong place to post.
I work in an Ambulance Service, on the 999 side. I recently had an Attendance Meeting owing to a recent spike in illness among staff. Everyone had their last 5 years absences analysed and those over the 'ideal' interviewed. I was one. When presented with my absences I noted that more than 80% of my illness record was made up of 2 accidents at work, one nearly 4 years ago.
My query is, can an employer really wave the big stick (and it was waved, with both hands) regarding illness when it was work activity that caused the vast majority of the illness in the first place?
I'm an active person generally and even being in the Army Reserve has not caused the level of injury I've had through the physical nature of my job.

Undervalued

The short answer is yes.

If you are injured or fall ill and it is your employer's fault then you may have a claim against them for damages.

However, for pure sickness management purposes the cause of the illness is irrelevant.

Take this to the ultimate. Suppose you were so badly injured you were unable to ever return to work? You wouldn't expect them to keep your job open and pay you sick pay until you reached the retirement age. If it was their fault and you won a personal injury claim against them loss of earnings would be a factor the court would use in deciding how much to award.

Robin-o'-the-Hood

That's a fair point. I suppose my issue was that I keep myself healthy generally, only being debilitated by work activities that are usually unavoidable in an emergency setting.

FBaby

Surely there are processes in place to avoid or certainly minimise the risk of injury at work. The issue becomes whether they have not put these in place, not train you adequately, or is it you not following the appropriate guidance.

Undervalued

FBaby wrote: »

Surely there are processes in place to avoid or certainly minimise the risk of injury at work. The issue becomes whether they have not put these in place, not train you adequately, or is it you not following the appropriate guidance.

Exactly.

If workplace injuries are a regular occurrence then you need to get your union involved ASAP.

ohreally

Have a word with a steward. I often had to "remind" management of their policy triggers as some would adopt any reference period that suited their agenda. They need to comply with agreed policy.

Industrial injuries may be legitimately disregarded in terms of reaching trigger points.