Grief at work (lone working)

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kitemaster

kitemaster

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi everyone
Not too sure if anyone else has had an issue like this but I work in an environment which sometimes means I can be working alone for hours and as a result of this I have had a risk assessment created by the 'Head of Health and safety' with the full support from 'Human Resources' and the backing for our 'Occupational Health Dept'. You would think that after all that everything should be ok. But! not according to my Manager who has been requested by all parties to sign it, he is failing to do so and making every excuse under the sun not to! He believes I can work anywhere without regular checks. Has anyone else had anything like this to contend with if so I would like to hear from them.😱
 
Shaun,

i'm guessing that if your company has a Health & Safety and a Human Resources Dept then your manager has no option but to sign the assesment. You are perfedtly within your rights to seek a review of his action/non action by his line manager. If you don't want to raise this within your company, contact the local authority and request they get involved. In my experience they will contact your regional or head office and that is usually enough to scare the pants off the relevant manager who will kick his proverbial ar$e. It might be worth reminding him of the personal liabilities (fines & prison) that exist for H&S breaches. Your company appears to be responding correctly to their duty of care with his obvious exception.
 
Hi Kitemaster Shaun

What is your boss's problem? Does he think that you should not work alone or does he think you should be able to work without the provisions made in the risk assessment? Under the disability discrimination Act employers have a legal obligation to make 'reasonably practicable adjustments' so you can do your job-this can simply mean regular breaks to check blood sugar and a non-negotiable meal break, if you have had a risk assessment for your diabetes and reccomendations have been made then refusal to abide by them isn't just a H&S breech its a breech of the DDA.

What is it you do anyway? I've been a 'lone worker' in total for about 3-4 years as a community nurse then research nurse and I've never had a risk assessment done (suprise suprise in the NHS!) but I've never had any problems working alone with hypos etc.
 
my job involves a lot of lone working and everyone in our organisation has to have a risk assessment for this, of course mine was more in depth! I can understand where your boss will be coming from but the purpose of a risk assessment should be to allow you to do things, in as safe a manner as possible, not to stop you doing things. Therefore if the risk assessment is well done there shouldn't be any reason to stop you doing the activity, in this case lone working. In my case the measures were that other people in the buildings were aware of how to treat a hypo, that I test regularly and have hypo treatments on me, that when im out and about someone (at home or a colleague) knows where I am and when I'm due back. None of that is really anything I wouldn't normally do.
Perhaps you could chat to your boss to find out what he thinks the unacceptable risks are and counter them with an explanation of how you already control them, which if course we all do every day!
 
Hi everyone in answer to some of your questions I work for a very large computer manufacturer and am based with one of our major clients in an MOD establishment. The work I do can be everything from moving pc's from one location to another, networking, cable laying, fault diagnosis server repairs, the list goes on. The concern for me is the locations are very isolated and you can be working there for hours on your own with no-one to check on you. Also other area's where people do not know of your medical condition. Some locations dont get visits from one week to the next. I have suffered for years with sudden disabling Hypo's! Unfortunately our Manager does lack a bit of common sense as the locations we visit on our customers site do not allow for lone working even for a dare I say it 'fit/healthy individual'.
 
security guard

when i was told that i was type 2 it was a worry because i work alone but when i spoke to my boss and told him what was going on he was really good i now have hourly check call and site visits and when it comes to dr or hosp visits he works my shift round me . i was really worried that he was going to sack me but he has been very good with me i reckon the best thing to do is sit sown with him and talk it out .
 
Unfortunately i have tried the sit down and talk principle, he just cant accept that in some area's I work in are dangerous for any lone person let alone a diabetic. To give you an idea of the kind of statements he has come up with is: He considers driving for me a high risk although it has been agreed between all parties that a BG test will be done before undergoing any driving distance this has been allocated a low to medium risk as the driving is not an energetic type of activity and does not burn large amounts of glucose. Where as he stipulates moving large heavy pieces of computer equipment is low risk although I often suffer from Hypo's when taking on these tasks because of the physical nature of the work.
After discussing the matter with him he did insist I should tell people that they should treat my condition in a serious episode, I cant do this as I believe they should be volunteers not be forced into it...
I dont think this is going to be the end of this issue overnight and may even need to involve the HSE as a last resort...
 
I'd have thought he'd have been happy to sign the risk assessment off as essentialy it absolves him of taking the responsibility for you and he can quite rightly claim that all the interested parties have carried out the neccessary paperwork exercise and he could do nothing more
 
Hi Kincaidston

You are quite right it would seem logical but unfortunately it appears as if I may have one of those bosses who cant see further than the end of his nose!

The problem may be resolved soon as they are going to go ahead with the risk assessment even if he fails to sign it or accept as all the important parties are in full support of it...

These parties have all told him that its a good Risk assessment and accurate...
 
Hi,
That is an interesting one, Do you know the reason for his reluctance? He does have a duty of care and statutory duty to uphold the law on health and safety.
 
Reluctance to sign

Hi
It appears it may possibly be because of what they may consider additional expense, it has been proven that two people on these types of jobs is quicker and easier for myself and colleagues but they are looking at the expense of having two people in the same location at once...
I had a further discussion with himself today and our customer manager and he is adamant I am now a high risk driving! I was polite with my response and simply requested how he came to that opinion but would not answer at all, to cover my own back I have contacted the DVLA and asked their opinion and they only consider me as low risk as all my driving is covered by regular blood tests prior to driving any distance. Whether it be simply ignorance I find it inexcusable, if I was the manager in our business and someone approached me with a medical condition I would at least read up on it and gen myself...
My manager has said he doesnt need to bother as all you do with a diabetic is stuff them with sugar if there is a problem, See my problem...
 
I have spoken to Occupational Health again after them speaking to him they have stipulated that it is a good Risk Assessment regarding the environment I work in and stated that I shouldnt be wrapped up in cotton wool. They also asked him whether he would discuss his issues with me and he stated, 'it doesnt involve him' so I wont talk... He still hasnt given any reason why he wont sign it...
 
This is surely illegal.
I would normally consider that you now follow occupational guides and advise him that you will now go to the next tier of management.
However, in the current industrial climate, it would be very easy for him to find some other reason to give you workplace problems
 
Hi Kojack
It does appear that what he is doing is illegal, I am discussing this further now with HSE and they have already stated that it is fair to say he can opt out from signing the risk assessment but he has to be given notice that he will need to place his reasons in writing for refusal of signing.

I have given him all the reasons why I am accepting it.

I have the full support from our customer who happens to be the MOD, they have said that as I am their responsibility on their site they have offered to complete a risk assessment on my behalf. This would mean I will have to abide with their risk assessment and wont require his signature, it maybe the only answer to my dilemma...😉
 
OK Shaun. I assume that you have given him your reasons in writing, kept a copy, a cc. to your occupational health department and his own manager.
The MOD are fair and intelligent employers. I am sure that they will be honest with you and their contracts are widely saught after which should give your company real food for thought.
 
conference call

It appears as if we my have closure to this problem at last they are going to have a conference call about my condition where Occupational health and talking to H&S and the manager causing the problem, I managed to talk to the manager this morning and he insists that im high risk whilst driving, so in front of a witness I requested him to stipulate why im high risk and he started to buckle as he then said he knew nothing about the diabetic condition. When asked how he could make a decision on my driving he assumed i was unsafe... Because im ill!!!! How i loved to know im ill 'NOT'
Im just glad im not ignorant like my boss....😡
 
Hallelueigh!

You know the phrase when when you assume you make an ass of u and me? Well what an ass!
Its not like you expect everyone to be an expert on diabetes but you do expect them not to make assumptions then stick blindly to them....
 
you are right sunflower

Hi Sunflower
Believe it or not I thought after 32 years of being diabetic people would have some sense/sensibility to my problem. I have to admit that what my manager has said and the way he has treated me I feel like some kind of leper and I find it very hurtful and such an insult the way I have been treated.... :(
 
Come on Shaun, you're better than to make some numbnut make you feel like a leper. Your manager was hurtful and stupid and I'm sorry that you're upset by it all but by confronting him and sticking to your guns you've not only flown the flag and paved the way for future diabetics but hopefully your managers had a mirror held up to him and he'll have to consider how his actions were wrong.
I've been diabetic 27 years and would love to think theres more understanding out there but few people outside 'the community' understand diabetes intricacies (spelling?) and really why would they?-I know naff all about cystic fibrosis- but this is why we need people like you to fight for not just your rights but all of our rights and to educate the numbnuts of this world so that it gets that little bit better and adults aren't kept out of work 'just in case' and children aren't being forced to eat lunch alone at school or sent home for every hypo
They may take our lucozade but they'll never take our freedom!
 
Pleased to hear your news Shaun.

The person with the egg on his face is your manager. I am a recently diagnosed T2 diabetic, but over the years I have had both students and colleagues with T1 and all I did was make sure that they had some form of medic alert or card and of course the necessary drugs/quick sugars etc. and that they made colleagues aware of their well controlled situation.

Hope all goes well now and this uncalled for stress is removed.
 
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