Greenkeeper Bob went off sick at a club we work with the other day.
The story goes that he was working alone on the course on a Sunday, picked up a divot box, and put his back out.
You’d assume that that’d be the end of his working day, but apparently he continued to lift another 7 or 8 divot boxes before heading home, freshening up and out to a crowded pub where he stood in the throngs watching England lose the Euros final.
Next morning, he turned up for work at 6am, and by 8:30am his back was hurting too much to continue and he headed off home.
The next bit went largely by the book – Bob went to see his GP and physio, and kept the club up to date, and the club played their part, letting Bob know what he’d be paid under their sick pay policy.
That’s when things began to unravel.
The sick pay policy stipulates that staff get paid Statutory Sick Pay, which Bob wasn’t very happy about.
He felt that as it was an accident at work, and because he hadn’t had a health and safety induction (allegedly), he should be paid in full until he was able to work again.
With legal threats in the air, the client called us, unsure whether to give into them or not.
The answer was definitely “not” – we advised Bob that his contract made it clear he’d only be paid SSP, to do anything else would be unfair to all the other staff, and we also invited him to a grievance hearing to discuss his complaint about a lack of induction.
This is a scenario that could happen in pretty much all clubs, so with that in mind, here’s what you need to be aware of:
- Make sure that your H&S induction is solid. Training on all equipment, get staff to sign the risk assessments, PPE that fits and is worn. That was not the case at Bob’s club.
- If someone says they have an accident at work:
- Immediately record the details in the accident book/H&S system.
- Get statements from all witnesses as soon as possible
- Check immediately under RIDDOR (search this on the Health & Safety Executive’s website) whether the incident needs to be reported. An absence of 7 calendar days from work due to an accident at work will trigger the need to report, even if it is just a sprained ankle.
- And if they start threatening as Bob did, immediately raise it with your insurance company so that they can prepare for a potential personal injury claim.
By following our process, and not giving in to the veiled threats, we got the result we wanted: Bob resigned rather than continuing with the grievance or starting a personal injury claim.
Don’t give in to threats like this, but make sure you take action to prevent incidents like this happening in the first place!
