Accident at work, what should i advise?

trinidadone

A colleague is employed on a zero contract as an engagement officer, and was working on a large housing estate contacting tenants/lease holders.

The colleague approached a property, left a calling card and turned around, as she step forward, her foot buckled.

The two paying slabs outside of the property are uneven.

The colleague got herself to A&E, had a cast fitted and xray carried out. She had large swelling on one side of the ankle.

The following day she went to the frature clinic of her local hospital, and was told the ankle is a sprain. she was provided with a large boot, advise to have plenty of rest, pain killers and apply ice to reduce the swelling.

She has a second job, which usually does not pay for sickness, should she claim, or put it down to bad luck????

Guest101

Claim what exactly?

trinidadone

she has had accident while carrying out her duties for a local authority. She has injured herself on a housing estate maintained and operated by the same local authority. she is now off work with no pay. in regards to what, that the point of the thread!!

Guest101

trinidadone wrote: »

she has had accident while carrying out her duties for a local authority. She has injured herself on a housing estate maintained and operated by the same local authority. she is now off work with no pay. in regards to what, that the point of the thread!!

Is she employed by a LA, or by a company working on behalf of? (I suspect the latter) as LA don't employ engagement officers on zero hour contracts.


She has injured herself possibly by her own negligence too. So if you're suggesting making a claim against the employer I suspect that's the end of her employment.


I thought you meant claiming benefits to be honest...

DomRavioli

Most RSLs aren't anything to do with local authorities, some are ALMOs, some are trusts, some are mutuals, and some are collaborations with nationals.

Perhaps get the correct information and post it?

Crazy_Jamie

It doesn't matter who she is employed by. It matters who the owner of the land and/or the entity responsible for maintaining the land is, and whether or not they have breached any duty of care towards her. That will come down to whether or not regular inspections were carried out, and whether or not the paving slabs should have been replaced or repaired prior to the accident. In practice housing authorities are fairly good at resisting claims of this nature because they have records of inspections. A further issue is whether or not the paving slabs were objectively dangerous and should have been replaced at all, which will depend on the extent of the defect. The mere fact that someone has been injured does not in an of itself prove that those slabs were in a dangerous condition. In reality, if your friend wants to make a personal injury claim, she should approach a personal injury solicitor to represent her.

trinidadone

Crazy_Jamie wrote: »

It doesn't matter who she is employed by. It matters who the owner of the land and/or the entity responsible for maintaining the land is, and whether or not they have breached any duty of care towards her. That will come down to whether or not regular inspections were carried out, and whether or not the paving slabs should have been replaced or repaired prior to the accident. In practice housing authorities are fairly good at resisting claims of this nature because they have records of inspections. A further issue is whether or not the paving slabs were objectively dangerous and should have been replaced at all, which will depend on the extent of the defect. The mere fact that someone has been injured does not in an of itself prove that those slabs were in a dangerous condition. In reality, if your friend wants to make a personal injury claim, she should approach a personal injury solicitor to represent her.

Hello crazy jamie, thank you for your response. Sorry if i am repeating my self, but its the local authority who owns the land, as they are directly responsible for managing the housing estate. She cant shed light on regular inspections. Thank you for letting me know about the experience of LA's resisting claims of injury. In regards if the paving slbs were "objectively" dangerous, all i can say is, one slab was a few inches high than the other, and she placed her foot on the edge of the high slab, which caused her foot to suddenly false downwards, towards the lower slab. doing her day to day duties, i guess she did not realise the difference in height.

The twist however, as mentioned above, she is employed directly by the LA on a zero hour contract, and therefore concerned she might not get any future work with them!!

Crazy_Jamie

trinidadone wrote: »

Hello crazy jamie, thank you for your response. Sorry if i am repeating my self, but its the local authority who owns the land, as they are directly responsible for managing the housing estate. She cant shed light on regular inspections. Thank you for letting me know about the experience of LA's resisting claims of injury. In regards if the paving slbs were "objectively" dangerous, all i can say is, one slab was a few inches high than the other, and she placed her foot on the edge of the high slab, which caused her foot to suddenly false downwards, towards the lower slab. doing her day to day duties, i guess she did not realise the difference in height.

The twist however, as mentioned above, she is employed directly by the LA on a zero hour contract, and therefore concerned she might not get any future work with them!!

If there was a difference in height of a few inches then that may well constitute a dangerous defect that should have been replaced, but the duty on the local authority is only to take reasonable steps, so there are other relevant factors. For example, it is common for local authorities to say that the defect was not noted at the last inspection, and therefore it must have arisen in between the last inspection and the accident. In reality you won't know how likely your friend is to succeed in a claim of this nature until you contact the authority in relation to it via a solicitor.

As regards getting future work, a dismissal due to an employee bringing a personal injury claim is highly likely to be unfair. In a recent case it was held that an employer failing to prove an employee with work can constitute a dismissal. However, thinking that you have a legitimate claim and having the evidence to prove it, and indeed following the claims process through to its conclusion, are different things, and your friend will clearly want to consider the practical implications of making any claims before she does so.

trinidadone

Crazy_Jamie wrote: »

If there was a difference in height of a few inches then that may well constitute a dangerous defect that should have been replaced, but the duty on the local authority is only to take reasonable steps, so there are other relevant factors. For example, it is common for local authorities to say that the defect was not noted at the last inspection, and therefore it must have arisen in between the last inspection and the accident. In reality you won't know how likely your friend is to succeed in a claim of this nature until you contact the authority in relation to it via a solicitor.

As regards getting future work, a dismissal due to an employee bringing a personal injury claim is highly likely to be unfair. In a recent case it was held that an employer failing to prove an employee with work can constitute a dismissal. However, thinking that you have a legitimate claim and having the evidence to prove it, and indeed following the claims process through to its conclusion, are different things, and your friend will clearly want to consider the practical implications of making any claims before she does so.

Thank you once again crazy jamie for your wisdom. The colleague informed me the paving is directly outside someones home, and also informed me the housing estate is part of the central governments plan to "regenerate" (knock down) the housing estate, and rebuild.

She tells me, in her interaction with lease holders / tenants, most dont even know who their housing officer is, so not sure if regular estate inspections are carried out, but worth knowing.

I guess your right, you she will not know how this pans out until a claim is put in, currently she is home resting, on crutches, pain killers and feeling a bit grotty!!

As she is on a zero contract, she not really concerned on dismissal, more like she will not be offered future work the same local authority, as she maybe labled as "trouble" - thus biting the hand which feeds her!! its something that worries her. Another colleague has suggested talking to the unions as well!!

BTW, i am so glad you responded