Warehouse

[Kimbo Almond]

I work in a warehouse moving around heavy stuff (e.g. 100kg tractor tyre).

A friend of mine in the job had a reputation for using the forklift as little as possible. Three weeks ago, he knocked two discs out of his lower back. He can't even wash dishes now without needing to take a break to lie down for a while.

I told him to put in an insurance claim. An injury like that is compensated to about £70 - 120 thousand in the UK.

Obviously my boss and colleagues wouldn't approve of me encouraging him to claim, but in my opinion this is exactly what the insurance is for.

Anyone agree or disagree?

[Obs]

I work in a warehouse moving around heavy stuff (e.g. 100kg tractor tyre).

A friend of mine in the job had a reputation for using the forklift as little as possible. Three weeks ago, he knocked two discs out of his lower back. He can't even wash dishes now without needing to take a break to lie down for a while.

I told him to put in an insurance claim. An injury like that is compensated to about £70 - 120 thousand in the UK.

Obviously my boss and colleagues wouldn't approve of me encouraging him to claim, but in my opinion this is exactly what the insurance is for.

Anyone agree or disagree?

Ot seems to me that is exactly what the insurance is for.
Afterall you say he had a reputation so they knew he was lifting excessively.
I look at things from a capitalistic standpoint. If some guy is trying to be a hotshot why should it cost the employers that he was less than smart about it?
It still doesnt change the fact that he will have a long road to recovery and it is going to cost someone in the end.

I Suppose it is an ethics question.
I can see both sides but obviously he didn't intend to hurt his back.

I messed up my back with relatively light weight but it was a long object I shouldn't have been carrying alone. I footed the bills and still have a back that isnt right.

Tough question really but in most cases I have seen, if a company can get out of it they will. So it is kinda left up to him. When the bosses pat him on the back for not using insurance and causing their rates to go up, they are gonna be patting the back of a man who is not what he once was. All because he had foolish pride in my opinion.

An employees health is more important than the money it will cost the company.

If the company wishes to avoid future issues like this, they can say what some employers do, "If I see you doing that again, you will be fired."

[calgarian]

my 2 cents.
Get him to file the claim. Its his livelihood. Employer will only pay for few months and then stop then he has to go to government assistant program (i dont know if you have them in UK) , yeah he lifted heavy but as Obs said he didnt wanted get hurt. So both ways he is losing his job (file or not, for insurance) only good thing about filing claim he have money to live and get the next job when his back is good enough.

[diesel101]

Here is my opinion as a business owner.
First thing he should have been talked to about not using the forklift to prevent injury.
The company has paid a lot of money for insurance and their rates will go up with a claim but he should definitely file a claim.
I am willing to bet the reason the boss doesn't want him to file is because he will have to answer to the owner of the company why he wasn't using the forklifts. If the owner has any business sense at all he will want a claim filed otherwise he is opening himself up for a lawsuit down the road if the employee has permanent damage to his back.
If the employee does not report the incident and the company does not know about it the employee will be on his own if he suffers permanent damage and no report was filed.

[Obs]

Here is my opinion as a business owner.
First thing he should have been talked to about not using the forklift to prevent injury.
The company has paid a lot of money for insurance and their rates will go up with a claim but he should definitely file a claim.
I am willing to bet the reason the boss doesn't want him to file is because he will have to answer to the owner of the company why he wasn't using the forklifts. If the owner has any business sense at all he will want a claim filed otherwise he is opening himself up for a lawsuit down the road if the employee has permanent damage to his back.
If the employee does not report the incident and the company does not know about it the employee will be on his own if he suffers permanent damage and no report was filed.

^^^yes lawsuit i didnt consider that

[Kimbo Almond]

An employees health is more important than the money it will cost the company.

There's very high staff turnover in my job. The owner doesn't care about a single member of his approximately 70 staff.

[Kimbo Almond]

If the employee does not report the incident and the company does not know about it the employee will be on his own if he suffers permanent damage and no report was filed.

He definitely has lifelong damage to his back.

[Kimbo Almond]

In trying to encourage my friend to claim, I said the following to him:

"You've been working here 8 years but they hire new staff and pay them more than you."

About an hour later he walked out and didn't come back.

[Obs]

There's very high staff turnover in my job. The owner doesn't care about a single member of his approximately 70 staff.

Yep... Definitely file.
I saved a company owner money that bailed me out of jail on serious charges. If it was a guy I didnt love, you can bet I woulda files ins claim