Guidance please if anyone can help..

An employee saw Occ health due to an ongoing arm injury/complaint, the Occ health made the reccomendation that the employee should carry out light duties for a period of time until the on going injury had improved. There was a loss in communication and the Occ health report wans't reviewd with the correct people so the light duties never happened. The employee carried on doing their normal role.. this then agrevated there arm injry.

I understand there was a breakdown in commucation that prevented the report being reviewed by the correct people but also did the employee have a duty to mention to there Line Manager; I am unable to do this job due to an arm injury etc....

Thanks

Sorry not going to bite regrading any employees "duty"

Management failing - someone will have seen the employee in pain or discomfort before they went, someone will have approved the consultation, someone will have seen the employee return from the consultation, someone will have seen the employee in pain or discomfort after the consultation, someone has forgotten part of  managerial duties is employee health not just making sure boots and Hi-Vis are worn.

Good managers regularly engage with staff and don't need written reports to tell them what they have already discovered through chatting.

“I understand there was a breakdown in communications that prevented the report being reviewed by the correct people but also did the employee have a duty to mention to their Line Manager;” I don’t think that this is a defence that would stand up in court. The employee had an issue, it was investigate on behalf of the company by OH and the company did not pick it up and act on it.  There is an expectation of a basic level of competency by any organisation.  They are expect to pick things up and act on them otherwise incompetence would be the best defence ever (“we did nothing your honour, because we are rubbish!”).

The injured party needs to make a clear declaration that they are having an issue. I was at the receiving end of something that sounded like a generic whinge (from an employee who had a reputation for whinging). They did not make any incident report or sickness notification, only to discover few weeks later that they had made a claim and had said in the claim that the company knew all about the issue and had made no attempt to address it.

But once a report is  in the system the company must act on it.

Sorry AK but that "whinge" was an employee providing a verbal account (by definition a report) to someone they believed represented the company. The line manager of the OP may have had similar but failed to acknowledge and act upon the comment.

The need for documentation is what makes me despair every year our "engagement survey" appears and once reported the managers have trouble comprehending how little they understand the employees

Ultimately, one person's whinge is another person's workload.

We introduced a pocket booklet of tear off forms to deal with hazards, complaints, etc.  Every employee has a booklet and if they see something unsafe or they have a whinge it goes on a form and on to my desk.  The booklet is 12 cm x 7.5 cm so it fits iny pocket.  Minimal writing required because if I need further information I can go and see the member of staff.

When I get the form I add it to the Corrective Action Plan and allocate responsbility for action to the most logical person, ie maintenance, occy health, purchasing, etc.  I monitor this to closure through the CAP system.

Very simple, very effective and very user friendly for all parties.  

In answer to the original question, this is clearly a failure.  Someone must have arranged the visit with Occupational Health and it is for the organisation to chase this through and ensure that actions are carried out accordingly.  I wonder that an internal risk assessment was not carried out in addition and then the two reports compared to see if they concur.  I do not think the operator is at fault at all, he put his faith in the system that you have in place and it failed him.

Edited by user 01 March 2019 10:20:50(UTC)  | Reason: Failed to answer the original question first time round XD