One of our employees has deceided to make an injury claim against our compnay, he was drilling steel without safety glasses on and the drill stapped and a shard of metal hit him in the eye.

We have in our RAMS that glasses must be warn at all times when using electrical power tools, we have proof that we proveided the PPE as it was brand new, he was working out of view of the supervisor who always wears his glasess and so do all the other fitters, the site mangager has backed this up.

The employee has been with us for five years and has been fully trained, the apprentice who was working with him says he had already broke two drill bits that day and we are using dorma which are a very good standard with hilti battery drills.

I would like to ask the forum what they think of this and should we be worried, we have never had any serious incidents in 14 years of being in business.

It is all down to what level of supervision might be expected in this set of circumstances. If the injured party can establish that it was custom and practice for staff not to wear PPEE and for management not to try to enforce the wearing of PPE then he is on to a winner. On the other hand if you can establish that there was a robust system of supervision and that everything reasonable was done to make sure that staff wore their PPE  they you should be ok.

If it goes to court (it probably won’t- these things usually get sorted privately between lawyers and insurers) it will be down to who the judge believes is more credible you or the injured party.

Did the Person in question Read and Sign the Rams. ?

If they did, then they had aggreed to work in a safe manner as set out in the Rams - Hence they would not be able to claim 

However if they were working and had not read the Rams or Signed as read, Then they could say it was lack of Supervision, Had a supervisor been there, they would of reminded him to put hs glasses on.

However whay you look at it i would Question this persons ability to work safetly, if all he's going to do is make claims for injury for something which he really should know better

Originally Posted by: A Kurdziel

It is all down to what level of supervision might be expected in this set of circumstances. If the injured party can establish that it was custom and practice for staff not to wear PPEE and for management not to try to enforce the wearing of PPE then he is on to a winner. On the other hand if you can establish that there was a robust system of supervision and that everything reasonable was done to make sure that staff wore their PPE  they you should be ok.

If it goes to court (it probably won’t- these things usually get sorted privately between lawyers and insurers) it will be down to who the judge believes is more credible you or the injured party.

Credibility dosn't always come into it. I defended against prisoner claims. In one case we had a witness statement from another prisoner that stated the claimant had injured himself to get out of work. The judge found in the favour of the claimant, saying that the witness statement wouldn't be taken into account as it was from a prisoner and therefore not a credible person. The fact that the claimant was also a prsioner seemed to escape the judges notice.

Gerry I think your right at least then you can show that you are dealing with it. I would also go through the RAMs and rsik assessment with him and get him to sign he had read them.

Anyone can pursue a claim for negligence. Whether it will be a successful claim will depend on many factors and the level of compensation will be determined also by the specifics of the incident and whether there is any measure of contributory negligence.

Your EL insurers will no doubt sort this out in due course, after deciding whether the claim "has legs" and whether there is any worthwhile defence to be made. You (ie your employer) will be expected to provide much evidence to support your position.

Hi Morgan

Very interesting case? Not necessarily cut and dried. I note all the 'evidence' is on one side.

As he has been with you for 5 years, is this behaviour an aberration [or normal] for him? ie has he a good work history so far if not what have you done before-anything or nothing

What is his reason for not wearing glasses, I note they are brand new.  Are they suitable for him, has he reported any difficulties in wearing them? What did he actually say about the incident when you enquired-  'I only took them off for a second to clean them or ........

Do all supervisors/managers/directors take remedial action every time they see someone not following the rules? The fact that the supervisor wears his all the time doesn'tnecessarily indicate his level of supervision and this is crucial as per posts above as poor supervision/management might allow him to win in court [albeit with reduced damages]uedQp

Regards

Mike

Originally Posted by: O'Donnell54548

IMHO it really is impossible for the members of this forum to comment on posts such as these. Often where a claim for compensation has been made the claimant may have sought legal advice, and provided this advisor with information which has not been shared on this post. Without this information any conclusion made by the forum users are pure;y speculative.

It dosn't seem to be that 'immpossible for members to comment' as 18, 19if you count this one have commented.

You are wasting your time asking for an objective opinion on this forum based on the information you haqve provide for a number of reasons.

Firstly there is no way to judge whether the information given is the whole story or just one side of the story. 

Secondly a number of the replies given are probably influenced by the poster's personal prejudices for want of a better phrase. Someone who says for instance "I would give a written warning" clearly aspires to a career in HR and not in H&S. Whatever, it isn't helpful to your initial enquiry. What I will say however, is that what ever you did after the event would have zero bearing on the outcome of any civil action so I would ignore that if I were you.

Thirdly, whatever you are told on here, the decision to mke a claim is in the hands of the claimant, and whether it progresses or not will be in the hands of the insurers and the legal eagles. Advice will be given to both parties and it will ususally be bsed on what course of action costs the least.

Originally Posted by: WatsonD

Originally Posted by: Invictus

Originally Posted by: O'Donnell54548

IMHO it really is impossible for the members of this forum to comment on posts such as these. Often where a claim for compensation has been made the claimant may have sought legal advice, and provided this advisor with information which has not been shared on this post. Without this information any conclusion made by the forum users are pure;y speculative.

It dosn't seem to be that 'immpossible for members to comment' as 18, 19if you count this one have commented.

Thats not 19 seperate commenters though. Plus, being a public forum it doesn't mean everyone who commented is a member. Just saying...

But is it 20 odd separate comments on the same or similar context, even including this one because I responded directly to a posting. 'I take on board the public forum so may not be all members.

Originally Posted by: Spacedinvader

Quote:

being a public forum it doesn't mean everyone who commented is a member.

You need to be a member to comment.  Just sayin...

Oh okay... So its you trying to sell those kitchens then!