Accident at work

Becles

About 2 years ago, my husband was injured at work. He's a postman and was delivering in a block of flats with poor communal lighting. He didn't see that the stairs were wet, slipped and fell down a flight damaging his knee in the process. He was off work for a while and then went back on light duties until he felt well enough to do deliveries.

He's had a weakness in that knee since and has badgered RM numerous times asking for other walks. He's a floater so he covers different walks when other people are absent. He really struggles with the walks with flats due to the stairs, or ones with lots of steep banks on. RM have ignored his requests for a permanent flat walk and he's been managing by taking painkillers and using a support bandage when it's playing up.

Last week he was out delivering to houses that have 3 steps leading up to the front door and a letter box right at the bottom of the door. You have to squat awkwardly on the steps to get the post through. At one door, his knee just went and he said it felt like someone had stabbed a red hot poker right through it. He was near the end of the walk, so he managed to hobble round and finish it, but he was in agony when he got home.

He went to work the next day and asked to record it in the accident book, but this has not been done. He said he was unfit for delivery, so they told him to go on the sick. He gets the impression that they think he is making it all up :mad: Nobody from work has been in touch to see how he is since he was told to go sick.

He has seen our GP who said it could be ruptured cartlidge, torn anterior(?) ligaments or the onset of osteo-arthritis. She said it's serious and expects him to be on the sick for a long time. She has referred him to the muscleoskeletal unit of the hospital. He has an appointment for April 21st.

He still thinks the accident should have been recorded in the book. Is there any way he can make RM do that?

He is also angry and feels let down by RM as he feels they have contributed to his knee problem by ignoring his requests for a flatter walk. What happens if he can't return to delivery? Are RM obliged to offer him another job which doesn't put as much stress on his knee?

He's on full pay for 6 months and then he goes onto SSP. Is that all he is entitled to or could he claim any other money to live on? We have 3 children and I work part time. I know it's months down the line, but we want to be prepared now just in case!

robpw2

becles why i sympathise with you if youre getting ssp you cannt claim incapcity benefit, but you may look into income support .

Iamthesmartestmanalive

There will be a big bit of contributory neglience here as he walked around with a damaged knee for a substantial perioud without seeking medical treatment

They will argue it was this and not the job which caused it- which is reasonable

they should record it, but the accident is in part his blame for not seeking medical treatment on an injured knee

Becles

He did seek medical treatment. He's seen the GP and physio on various occasions, who recommended the painkillers and knee support that I mentioned in the original post.

He's not looking for someone to blame. We're looking for advice on how RM should be managing this regarding refusing to put the injury in the accident book, and should they offer him alternative work.

dmg24

The only time that the employer would have to look at making reasonable adjustments is if your husband is covered by the DDA. To be covered, a person must have a condition that has a substantial and long term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day to day activities.

My feeling is that, from what you have described, his condition would not fulfil the substantial criteria. However, this is open to individual interpretation.

By the way that you described the incident, I don't think that it was an accident per se. Nothing actually happened to cause the incident, and it could have happened at any time, in the same way that someone could get a migraine or headache at work. Therefore I would not expect it to be recorded.

Dazzieboo

Becles, I can sympathise with your worry, and fully understand why you want to find out now about the financial situation, but I just wanted to let you know your GP could be over-reacting in the length of recovery time. I have torn my anterior and cruciate ligament, the latter being more serious and I was only off work for 4 months and this included recovery time after the operation, this was when I worked in a riding school which was a very active job. Orthopaedic surgeons work absolute marvels these days and get the patients back on their feet and on the road to recovery, very, very quickly, my GP was astounded at the speed I got up and going again.

I can't help at all in the other matters regarding how RM have behaved, have you been to your local CAB ?,

Good luck, keep us informed.

ohreally

He should insist this incident is recorded in the accident book. He should get his trade union appointed safety rep involved as well, the employer should carry out a personal manual handling assessment in light of his previous injury . If the injury results in him being unable to work for over 3 days or carry out his full range of normal duties, the employer must inform the enforcing authority, HSE or environmental health dept at the local council, and complete a RIDDOR report - this must be done within 10 days.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/riddor/guidance.htm#threeday

The health and safety at work etc act places a duty on employers to ensure the health safety and welfare at work of their employees. Given the employer was aware of a previous problem, what support mechanisms did they put in place to support and protect him? Has the employer referred him to occupational health for an assessment and if so has there been periodic reviews?


Under the management of H&S at Work Regs, the employer should carry out risk assessments which must be "suitable and sufficient", this means it should identify hazards, determine the likelihood of injury or harm arising and make decisions about appropriate control measures.

Has he brought this to the attention of either a shop steward or health and safety rep?

Edit: If he hasn't claimed industrial injuries disablement benefit i'd suggest he applies to the DWP for a decision on whether the incident was a qualifying industrial accident, or submit a claim anyway. He can claim retrospectively however this is only for a very limited period (iirc ~ 6 weeks) and the accident must be formally recorded with the employer.

http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/JCP/stellent/groups/jcp/documents/websitecontent/dev_011737.pdf

CFC

Last week he was out delivering to houses that have 3 steps leading up to the front door and a letter box right at the bottom of the door. You have to squat awkwardly on the steps to get the post through. At one door, his knee just went and he said it felt like someone had stabbed a red hot poker right through it.

If the incident is as described counts an accident OHReally I would be very surprised? His previously weakened knee gave way while he was bending. I cannot see any reason why an employer would enter that into the accident book? If I had a heart attack at work, would that go into the accident book?

Becles

This is where we are confused as to if it was an accident caused by work or not. He appreciates the knee could have gone at anytime, be that work, home etc. However, RM have done nothing whatsoever to help him.

RM were aware of the situation after the first accident, and he has persistantly complained that he stuggles on walks with stairs and banks.

He was given a lovely walk last autumn round a housing estate. He loved that and was managing great with his knee as there were no stairs and the land is flat.

However after Christmas they took that walk off him. No idea why as it's still vacant with casuals covering it. They made him go back onto floating duties which included walks with blocks of flats and steep hills. His knee problem has got worse since Christmas which RM have been aware of, yet they still refused to put him back on the estate walk he enjoyed.

That's why he thought it was an accident due to work, as it could have been avoided if he had been allowed to stay on the walk he was on before Christmas?

Thanks for sharing your experiences Dazzieboo. It's reassuring to know the recovery is quicker than the GP suggested, although to be fair to her she did say she wasn't an expert on knees and was guessing at a worse case scenario.

[Deleted User]

I am not sure how exactly the reporting of accidents/incident happens in RM but with my previous employer - the wonderful Tesco - it is not just accidents that are reported but also things like incidents where injury has or could have happened. So yes, heart attacks should be reported as well as straining musles etc.
If someone had a bad back and the boss told them to lift a heavy box which caused further injury, this would be a reportable incident.

ohreally

CFC wrote: »

If the incident is as described counts an accident OHReally I would be very surprised? His previously weakened knee gave way while he was bending. I cannot see any reason why an employer would enter that into the accident book? If I had a heart attack at work, would that go into the accident book?

First of the heart attack analogy. If the employer failed to control stress levels in the workplace and you subsequently suffered a heart attack, recording the event in the accident book would be the least of the concerns. The HSE can and does act/prosecute on failure of employers to identify risks and implement control measures e.g http://www.hse.gov.uk/notices/breach/breach_list.asp?ST=B&SN=F&EO=%3D&SF=RID&SV=1302351 breach of both HASAW and Management Regs for failure to have risk assessments for work related stressors.

In the op's circumstances, there was a pre-existing injury suffered in the course of work. The employer was made aware of the facts (as given to us) and appears to have failed to introduce support mechanisms to prevent further recurrence.

This is something for the CWU to pick up if an acceptable outcome is to agreed, as it appears the employer isn't going to act with diligence, indeed there appears to be a total lack of management commitment to finding a solution.