Fall at work on untreated black ice

EightiesCupcake

Hi, back in January I had a nasty fall onto my right side as I walked into work. The black ice was obvious in loads of areas on this tarmacked area so I avoided however rounding a corner,  i dropped heavily onto my right elbow, bags went up in the air as I went down so fast and with force. The ice was untreated, whereas other areas on site were gritted. Colleagues scooped me up and I went to xray. Elbow fine just very painful as was my right hip, lower back the next day including a bruised right knee. 

3 weeks later I go to run as I do 2-3 times a week and had to stop within 30 seconds as pain below my kneecap.  Ended up being off work for two weeks, on cruthes as couldn't weightbear. I attempted return week three, too much and aggravated the symptoms again. Saw musculoskeletal physio and he diagnosed chondral defect. This can apparently be a delayed condition to a fall / trauma. Signed off again however I'm only due to get one month's sick pay a year (September to August) and I've previously been off with sickness. So I won't get full pay for this sicknote.  I don't want to risk going back too early however feel forced into a corner of there's no choice. Can anyone advise please?

EightiesCupcake

After my initial fall in January,  I couldn't run for a couple weeks as sore

Ayr_Rage

Was your accident reported to your employer and recorded?

What have they said regarding liability?

Playing Devil's Advocate, if it was obviously icy and you had seen that some areas were gritted why did you decide to walk on an untreated area?

Edit : Reported for a move to a more appropriate section.

DullGreyGuy

EightiesCupcake said:

Hi, back in January I had a nasty fall onto my right side as I walked into work. The black ice was obvious in loads of areas on this tarmacked area so I avoided however rounding a corner,  i dropped heavily onto my right elbow, bags went up in the air as I went down so fast and with force. The ice was untreated, whereas other areas on site were gritted. Colleagues scooped me up and I went to xray. Elbow fine just very painful as was my right hip, lower back the next day including a bruised right knee. 

3 weeks later I go to run as I do 2-3 times a week and had to stop within 30 seconds as pain below my kneecap.  Ended up being off work for two weeks, on cruthes as couldn't weightbear. I attempted return week three, too much and aggravated the symptoms again. Saw musculoskeletal physio and he diagnosed chondral defect. This can apparently be a delayed condition to a fall / trauma. Signed off again however I'm only due to get one month's sick pay a year (September to August) and I've previously been off with sickness. So I won't get full pay for this sicknote.  I don't want to risk going back too early however feel forced into a corner of there's no choice. Can anyone advise please?

Advise on what?

How to get better quicker given you posted this in a section on health?

Grumpy_chap

EightiesCupcake said:

Can anyone advise please?

I guess there are three possible things you might be asking for advice on:

 - Is there a claim against the employer?  I suspect not as they do not appear to have been negligent.
 - How to manage the recovery?  No-one on a forum can advise better than your medical team.
 - How to manage financially once the period of full sick pay is expired?  You may still be eligible for SSP (statutory sick pay).  You may need to use your savings / emergency fund.  If you have no savings, you may be eligible for benefits - use an online calculator such as entitledto for information.

Brie

Personally I would start with the employer.  Not saying that they need to pay you any compensation but the fact that they had not taken care with gritting sufficiently they should at least be cutting you some slack re your absence. 

Get them to do an occupational health / reasonable adjustment assessment so that there is something in writing specific to your workplace about the advisability for you to return to work and what you can do when you are there.  They may need to provide you with a parking space near the entrance, allow you to do shorter hours initially when you return to work.  Is there anything that would make your being there more comfortable?  A leg rest or similar?

MSE_ForumTeam5

We've moved this to the employment section of the forum. Please note medical advice is prohibited on the forum, so this isn't place to discuss the health aspects.

Savvy_Sue

Brie said:

Personally I would start with the employer.  Not saying that they need to pay you any compensation but the fact that they had not taken care with gritting sufficiently they should at least be cutting you some slack re your absence. 

Get them to do an occupational health / reasonable adjustment assessment so that there is something in writing specific to your workplace about the advisability for you to return to work and what you can do when you are there.  They may need to provide you with a parking space near the entrance, allow you to do shorter hours initially when you return to work.  Is there anything that would make your being there more comfortable?  A leg rest or similar?

And do you know if it was entered in the accident book? 

Without knowing what your job entails, it's hard to know what your employer might be able to offer - when I crocked my ankle, I was able to WFH initially, and once I could travel we changed the office in which I worked so I only needed to go upstairs at the start of the day, and downstairs at the end (no loo on 'my' floor). And no-one expected me to make tea. 

But if your job involves standing or moving things around then your employer may be able to offer you 'light duties' - but then again, they may not be able to do so.