Injuries at work
 

OK know its not motorcycle related but I just wondered if any of you could offer advice........

Friend injured her back using faulty equipment at work nearly 6 months ago now, since then she has been off sick and has been signed off by her GP. She's sent the sick notes in to work but they keep pestering her to go in and see the nurse at work on the basis that they can find her some light work to do. My question/s is/are:

Can they demand that she goes in to see this nurse while still signed off as unfit by her GP ?.

Would she be covered by her companies insurance if working while signed off due to injury ?

My guess is that the answer to both questions is no but if anyone has encountered a similar situation their feedback would be much appreciated.

As I understand it, you're not allowed on the premises when signed off sick. When I was teaching we had clear instruction on this... it was quoting Public Liability Insurance so may be specific to the insurance each company holds.

It may be part of her employent contract (it is in mine) that after so long off sick she has to see the comapny's appointed doctor/nurse, but my response to that would be "Send 'em round then!"

Paul,

This is what takes up the majority of my workload on a daily basis as a Medic/HSE advisor in the Oil & Gas Industry.

A few things are VERY important in this situation.

She needs to check her T&C's to see if her work have in place anything like an "Active case management" scheme written into her contract.

This is basically a medical company or work nominated person (probably the nurse in this case) who is responsible for monitoring sickness absence and trying to smooth the process of getting back to work. This could be the reason for the "Pestering"

She may have a contractural obligation to comply with this. It does not mean however that she needs to go back to work if she is not fit to do so........It just means she has to cooperate where necessary by attending second opinion medicals etc.

The reality is if she is not cooperating with such a scheme she could be leaving herself open a little bit.

Make sure she keeps an eye on her sick notes and makes sure the next one is in on time before the old one expires, keep the paper chase boxed off from early on.

As for the insurance it would be unlikely that she would be covered if doing "Light duties" and not fully fit to undertake her normal role.

More important from my point of view is her employer and where she stands, so a wee bit of advice for her!

Note some of these regulations may only apply to offshore, worth checking with the local HSE inspector as recommended below.

The matter should have been reported by her employer under RIDDOR (The reporting of injuries diesease and dangerous occurance regualtions) as an over 3 day injury. If not in simple terms they have broken the law, no if's or but's!

Secondly they have legal responsibilities under several other areas of the law to prevent such things happening.

Firstly PUWER (The provision and use of work equipment regulations) may come in to play here as you mention it was a piece of machinery which caused the injury.

Then the old Health & Safety at work Act "Every employer shall ensure as far as is reasonably practicable the Health Safety & Welfare of their employees"

And lastly the good old Manual Handling Regulations which request "suitable and suffcient assessments to prevent injury"

The best advice i would give her is to contact her local Health & Safety Executive local inspector. They are excellent in such a case of investigating it. They will probably want to come out and see her to take a statement, especially if the company has a poor safety record. Don't bottle it at this point make sure she sees it through.

The company should have investigated her accident and actioned any points arising from it to prevent further occurance, if not again they are treading on thin ice

By the sounds of it she has suffered something which may give her long term problems I.E. Musco Skeletal injury to the back??

Lets not go into the medical bits here but suffice to say she "may" have a case for compensation even more important if she has been off work all this time on state sickpay instead of full wages???

Feel free to drop me a line to my email, better still i am back onshore from Tuesday 8th November onwards if you/she wants to give me a phone for some more advice.

07061 001 001

Regards

ScottyB

[Edited on 1-11-2005 by ScottyB]

Re Scottys post he is dead on as regards the position and contracts

Depending on the circumstances of how it happened also may have rights to compensation but would need to speak to her

It is definately worth checking as backs are a pain (scuse the pun) and can cause all sorts of aggro in later life

If she needs straight advice with no 'strings' then pm me and i will send on my number - I run a firm of solicitors which has a large pi department (and which is run properly ie does not rip off its clients:frog:)

HTH and I hope she gets better soon - I myslef have a recurrent back prob and wouldnt wish it on any1 tbh