Accident at Work

[Deleted User]

Hi, I hope this is the right place for some advice on my problem.  I shall try and keep this as brief as possible.  

74jax

If you used to do this with another member of staff, I would expect the fact you carried it out yourself implies you risk assessed it yourself and carried it out, rather than ask for help, is this correct? 

Marcon

Why is moving a bin weighing 2 to 3 stone (28 to 42 lbs) such a big deal? That's no heavier than the sort of shopping bag (or small child!) many people carry all the time without it being an issue, so it suggests there is clearly something more at play in terms of where/how they had to be moved?

Savvy_Sue

I'm not saying you don't have a claim, but Health and Safety is EVERYONE's concern, so it may be that by carrying out a task in what may be seen as an obviously unsafe manner you're not in a strong position. Have you spoken to whoever was responsible for Health and Safety at the school, to check the accident was properly recorded, and to make them aware how serious it was? I'm not sure, if you had not continued working I think it would have been reportable under RIDDOR. 

And I don't suppose you joined a union? (Personally I have never understood anyone working in a school without doing so, but maybe I'm just paranoid.)

It's clear your confidence took a knock: you say you weren't consulted, but you could have spoken up when the change was proposed, or as soon as it was clear that having one person doing those duties wasn't reasonable. 

If not in a union, see if your house insurance offers any kind of legal cover. 

Savvy_Sue

Fragglekid38 said:

There unfortunately no unions for kitchen staff. 

That is not true. At all. There is a union for everyone! 

https://www.tuc.org.uk/joinunion

In your case, Unison would probably be a good fit: I know they are active on behalf of school support staff. This is one case I know of: https://www.unison.org.uk/news/article/2018/10/glasgow-equal-pay/

Arnisdale

Unison
https://www.unison.org.uk/content/uploads/2018/01/Schools-Catering-staff-report-1.pdf?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

MalMonroe

[Deleted User] said:

We were actually contract catering rather than school, so not employed by the school.  Not sure if that makes any difference? 

No it doesn't make any difference. As Savvy_Sue has said, Unison is a good fit. Have a look at the links others have posted, particularly the one Arnisdale has posted. 

Acas may also have some advice for you, link here https://www.acas.org.uk/contact

74jax

[Deleted User] said:

Also as the task was very knowingly being left for me I would assume that my supervisor would have risked assessed it as I was put in a situation where if I didn’t do it I would have not been doing my job properly and something would have been said (I can imagine she would not have been happy coming into the kitchen in the morning with a food bin covered in flies)  as I’d already felt belittled by the job change I was a really difficult situation and even though I’d put in my notice I still wanted to do my job and not leave with the thought of my supervisor not giving me a reference. 

Even if you assume your manager has carried out a risk assessment, you still do your own surely? Just because my manager would say something is safe, if I disagreed I wouldn't do it (as an example). H & S is everyone's responsibility and not bringing something to your managers attention could go against you. 
You mention you decided your manager would not like coming into a bin of flies, so to me that sounds as though you weighed up the two options and choose to carry it out. 
If you really want to put in a claim then go for it, but I think the fact you were leaving (so wouldn't be working) will be factored in too. As you won't be losing future wages. 
Especially as there's photos of the bin situation before your accident, but again this may go against you, as if there's photos and you didn't raise it as something you couldn't do, then they would expect you were OK with it, so it wasn't an unknown situation causing an accident. 
In future definately join a union (anyone can) if you don't feel able to speak up about certain things - you could have told them you weren't able to carry out your job for example.
Have you taken any legal advice? Do you have free legal cover on your house insurance? 

[Deleted User]

Thanks 74jax.  It makes sense.  My supervisor was well aware of the situation due to the poor maintenance by the school and did nothing about it.  With regards to health and safety, I was between a rock and a hard place all my training to date had been about the health and hygiene and very little on health and safety so I had to take a judgement call on what I had been made to feel was of more importance which was the hygiene side, which was obviously being pushed even more due to Covid.  Obviously I am not going to claim for loss of earnings but my injury will make physical jobs more difficult in the future. 

Thanks for your insight

TBagpuss

It's possible that you have a claim - whether or not it is successful will depend on whether your employer was negligent - e.g. did they carry out (and record) appropriate risk assessments? Did they provide appropriate training? Were you working in accordance with the training given? Was the injury as a result of lack of training / lack of following instructions or was it a genuine accident?  (I'm not asking you those questions, but they are the sorts of things which affect this kind of case) 

As an employer, they have a duty of case and would be expected to have carried out a risk assessment and to have provided appropriate training. If they didn't, and the injury could have been avoided if they had done so, then your claim may well succeed. If they did, but you didn't follow the instructions, or the injury was not foreseeable, then you are much less likely to succeed. 

It's worth you speaking to a personal injury solicitor - they will be able to give you a better idea of whether you have a viable case.

elsien

Marcon said:

Why is moving a bin weighing 2 to 3 stone (28 to 42 lbs) such a big deal? That's no heavier than the sort of shopping bag (or small child!) many people carry all the time without it being an issue, so it suggests there is clearly something more at play in terms of where/how they had to be moved?

Moving that sort of weight would be an issue for me if it was closer to 3 stone than 2 - 18/19 Kg. And it also depends where and how you are moving it, and how close to your core it can be kept. 
I am physically fit and healthy but am just over 5 ft and weigh 7 1/2 stone. On the rare occasions I have to shift an 18Kg bag of dog food at home on my own, I have been in pain the following day. I certainly would not attempt to do so on a regular basis at work. 
There should have been a proper risk assessment. However the OP also has a duty to raise any concerns about health and safety and it's not entirely clear if this was done in a formal way that left any sort of record.