chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

right i had a bit of an accident at work tonight. for those who dont know i work nights in a rather large distribution warehouse where i live in scunthorpe. i basically drive up and down aisles order picking (for want of a better more techy description).

anyway the accident...

i was coming out of an aisle (see piccy 1 for description)



my truck route is the red line
the aisle rout is the blue line
the spillage is the green dots
where i crashed is in yellow

i know the piccies not good (was a 5 min job on paintbrush lol)

what happened was...

i was coming out of aisle A,N and wanted to be in aisle A,R so cut across the two other aisles (which is perfectly acceptable, no rules broken). there was a trickle of spilled wine all the way down aisle A,P which was on of the aisles i cut across the top of. i proceeded to enter aisle A,R and unsighted of this trickle, went straight across it, skidding and crashing into one of the aisle racking uprights (the yellow arrow)

i reported this straight away to a shift leader to cover my **** as i had actually damaged the racking from the impact (which rises up 12 metres with pallets sloted in on several levels). i injured my shoulder and had to go home after doing a reconstruction of the accident.

basically i know the accident wasnt my fault for the following reasons

1. its impossible to see a small trickle leakage like that from the machinery i drive round.
2. it should have been reported by whoever was responsible for a leaking package on their pallet.
3. i did everything properly and broke no rules (wrong place wrong time)

what im worried about is if i will lose my job over something like this, as christmas time is notrious for being slow at my place of work and any excuse is used to reduce the employee level sometimes.

now as stated earlier i injured myself and as im writing this im trying to sort out an appointment at the doctors to see what/how long il be off work from.

i dont even know if i have a case to claim on the companies insurance, as again stated im sure i wasnt at fault etc.

does anybody have a similar experience or any advice they would give me regarding this as its a 20k+ a year jobn and i dont wanna lose it for something that was my fault.

for reference here is what i drive around at work as to give a better idea of what occured. pictures of the accident were taken etc as the company i work for are usually very offical unless it comes to something like sacking somebody for nothing offences.



and this is a similar layout to the racking system, as i know my piccy will baffle those without warehouse experience (no offence intended there)



any help much appreciated

cheers

andy

p.s. hoping not to be off work too long, still got a motrgage to pay!

billythekid

will send you a PM

StickyMicky

were you going "fast" on the vehicle

i have seen one of these things spinning out when some rain had been splashed around, IIRC they are rear wheel steering?

Buckrogers

Any mods on the pallet truck? Does the insurance company know?

Seriously....

If you have not broken any rules then I do not see how they can justify sacking you. If they still do sack you then they leave themselves open for unfair dismissal, court case and bad publicity which big companies do not like. Only thing I can see from your description of the incident is the speed at which you were corning / entering isle AR. On the other hand if you were going too fast then they are still at fault as they should have restricted the speed of the pallet truck in the first place.

Get well soon and get some better / stickier tyres on you pallet truck, maybe some Goodyear F1's

92typeRA

i there buddy.
you company can not pay you off for a accedent on duty (have you got a union?)as you said it was not you falt that some1 else did not report there spillage(this person should be getting disaplined for not reporting it)

dont think your company have a leg to stand on when it comes to paying you off .after all you r the 1 that got hurt in the crash as long as you have done everything by the book eg . told ya shift manager filled in the accedent oh and was not speeding

iff thay do try to pay ya off speak to your lawyer and you would be able to take then all the way for unfair dismisel. as for you claiming i think you can as you dont get paid iff your off work. plus the accedent was because off some1 else stupitday for not reporting there accendent. clam for lose off earnings......fail that got speak to inland revenue thay will be you best bet


good luck mate get well soon and hope it all goes well for ya



i know my spelling is crap so dont start yall

WHEELSHOP0_0

Andy, how long have you been an employee for them as it does have a bearing as to how they view these accidents, if you have been with them for less than 2 years they have the option to discontinue your employment without giving you a reason(I think, its a few years since I dealt with this area).
If you are last in, (first out) is usually the rule of thumb in the "seasonal" up/down type of employment.
From an outside view it looks like an accident to me and as such most employers will look upon it as such and not hold you liable for any retribution.
However if this is a pattern of accidents they might view it differently.
Industrial injury claims on your part, you have done the right thing, get it all on paper but dont tell them you are thinking about this (yet).
Hope this works out for you.

GaryCat

It could be said that as you had missed out aisle AO & AP you would have been going faster than if you had gone round the end of AP. But I think the real issue is who caused the spillage and did they do everything possible to warn other staff about it in time?

Dunk

iTrader: (1)

I'd push to ensure that a full route cause analysis is undertaken. From what you say the cause of the accident is as a direct result of the spill & the route cause of the spill is the bit that could/should result in understanding what action to take against whom.
I'd want to know how long the floor was wet for ? Who else was aware & didn't act on it ? Where it the spill originated from / who was at that pick face ? Was it being picked or put away ? (If so, why not noticed at loading bay, damaged on arrival or between load bay / racking?)
Lots of questions to ask
If they take H&S seriously, then they'll ask the questions, if not, you should.
(Do people know what to do when a spill happpens ? Do you have spill kits \ cones available ? All which should be in place if you're moving liquids)
3 days off work will be a RIDDOR & they won't want that if they take H&S seriously.

HTH

D (Safe in the knowledge I don't have any sheds in Scunny )

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

hi guys, thanks for all your opinions etc.

to clarify the trucks are all front wheel drive. the forks at the back lift up pallets when the small rear wheels get inside them.

i wasnt going fast what so ever as i had approx 700kg of tins, wine beer etc on my first pallet which comes upto the headboard. as the floor is very shiny and of a smooth concrete texture, totally bald rubber tyres are used on all the mhe at work (manual handling equipment). thus in the dry they stick better than a scoob in the twisties but any hint of moist and they can be uncontrollable as was the case with me running over the winr trickle.

regarding the person who made the trickle, i guess he got away with it as i have no idea who it was 100s of people in the same warehouse at any one time. the warehouse is 625,000 square feet in size so hard to find any one person.

ive been to the doctors and was told basically the impact has set off my old whiplash injury from earlier this year. so it may be a few days of ibropufen (spelling?) and general stretches or another two months off work. thats what im worried about. as ive already had over two months off this year (from whiplash injury) i got belled for that and warned already so dont want to lose my job on account of poor attendance, if not the accident being my fault.

im going to ring them up tonight at ten when im due to start and see what the deal is. ive been there well over 2 1/2 years and have always been loyal done overtime on request etc, hit performance figures so they have no reason bar this to sack me. im a proper little **** sucker when needs be (joke!!)...

i am thinking of the claim route however as these 2.5 days off atleast, are gonna cost me £150-200+ in wages.

any ideas on those no win no fee things off tv? i just want lost earnings and justice!!! justice i tell you!

andy

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

oh yes health and safety is paramount apparantley due to the huge numbers of polish workers there who cant speak a word of english. the spillage has come from one of two sources...

either a picker (my job) has put a leaking case of wine on his pallet and its leaking through the slats in the pallet onto the floor and hasnt been reported when noticed..

OR...

a reac truck driver (who loads the various levels of pickfaces) has driven it from a too b and had the same result. either way it wasnt a product off my pallet as the spillage shows. and as we are all contorlled by electronic devices called talkmans they can pinpoint anybodies whereabouts in the warehouse at any time to check for dishonesty liability etc... another pro in my case. as they can see i have said everything truthfully.

as for skipping a couple of aisles, that amkes no difference to the speed as i always have and will slow down to an acceptable speed to take a sharp corner... or some on the unwrapped products would have fallen off my pallet would they not? again another little but defining point that will be brought up if the worst happens

andy

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

whoever had made the spillage either didnt know about it or didnt want to be found out. if for instance it was a polish member of staff, they wouldnt say anything. many incedents/accidents have occured due to the language barrier between us all, and as soon as we pick up on this the poles and their agency bosses are claiming for harassement and/or victimisation. even if it was a member of staff whos first language was english, chances are they wouldnt have mentioned it either, due to the fact that they would have got a bollocking for it, even if i minor leak/spillage/damaged case etc...

im a little in limbo and have no idea whether to as im being investigated/sacked/suspended etc. hence why im asking you good sirs and siresses on here for advice. plus i cant really afford the loss of earnings if say more than a few days off work is needed for a full recovery due to the heavy nature of the job i do (heavy lifting etc etc.)

andy

The Chief

If they sack you thats bang out of order. if they do i'd be straight on the phone to Bains and Earnest or lawyers 4u whatever and sue their feckin sorry a**es.

i'd let it be known to your immediate superior that any disciplinary action against yourself and you'll take them for 10k.

Their choice!!!

92typeRA

phone inland revenue about lose off ernings thay will tell ya how to got about it ...

as said b4 i dont think thay will sack ya thay leave there self wide open for you to take them to court for unfair dismisle

Dunk

iTrader: (1)

Are you one of the Polish workers ?

D

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

yeah i see what you two are saying. what worries me is similar stuff has happened in the past, and say they sacked someone and this someone appealed against dismissal, they just accept them back straight away, having already made their silent threat. bit strange but how said company works...

for example say, i get a disaplinary when i go back and recieve a warning, i can obviously appeal it, but then how do i go about taking things further regarding compensation etc???

andy

DCI Gene Hunt

Andy,

A word to the wise, always think carefully before posting 'detailed' information on the internet following and incident at work, especially one in which you may have to claim damages etc.

FWIW

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

point taken but i have not made any details of the company or its name aware on here. wont take a genuis but im covering my **** that way. please elaborate how it could affect a claim if one is needed?

cheers

andy

DCI Gene Hunt

You haven't as yet provided anything which could be used adversely agains't you in a court, but by providing a 'statement' on Scoobynet of what happened you won't exactly be able to change or omit any details following legal advice etc.

And adverse comments against the employer could be used to suggest you had and axe to grind etc.?

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

absolutley everything i stated about what happened it exactly how it happened and exactly how i would explain it. its totally 100% the truth, or i wouldnt have explained in as much detail as i did. that the thing, i havent done anything wrong in my eyes, people on here have helped me realise this. i have no axle to grind, il admit im not the biggest fan of my job, however that wouldnt cloud my version of the events that took place...

andy

DCI Gene Hunt

& Hope you're feeling better soon.......

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

me too. appreciate your comments whole heartidly however. i realise what you said does make a lot of sence, but in my case wouldnt make any difference as there isnt/wasnt a story etc, only one version of events, explained fully by me to several superiors of mine over and over again to re-itterate my point of honesty.

i suppose il have to do some more drawing work for people on here for xmas money....

andy

92typeRA

yeh i am

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

kouvar!!!

andy

Shark Man

I reccomend that whilst off work, you brush up on your health and safety by watching this video:

http://home.astrakan.hig.se/sax/rokk...hrer_klaus.wmv

It's in German, but you'll get the jiist of it, and you MUST watch at least 5mins before deciding to turn off - trust me

(btw this is an oldie, but I couldn't resist posting it )

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

is it good ****?

andy

David Lock

If you've got some time off then you could always go down to Citizens Advice and have a chat. This is completely free and on a good day they can be very helpful. Best of luck. dl

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

that... is... ******* excellent.

the video and the advice too. may do that.

Shark Man

Glad that cheered you up

SJ_Skyline

Who says the Germans have no sense of humour?

boxst

Hello

That's really funny!

Steve