Injury making current role impossible...

[freecar]

Hi all,

I'm hoping the brains of pistonheads can help here, I have tried googling and it hasn't yielded any relevant results.

I am currently on sick leave, I had bad shoulder pain a couple of months ago and ended up having to have surgery to relieve a bone impinging on a tendon and making it look like cheese string (really! My consultant took pics inside and gave them to me!) and now I am doing physiotherapy to get my movement back.

Problem is that my job is very physical and caused my injury, I have to climb vertical ladders many times a day and that is what impinged my tendon in the first place. I have been advised that I may not be back to full strength for another year or two!

So, I am shortly going to be able to wipe my ass without wincing, wash my hair without worrying and empty the dishwasher without distress (you can tell I'm bored!!) however I'm not likely to be able to do my job properly. The company are good and have redeployed staff in the past to different roles when theirs goes away or they don't want to do their current role any more, but I don't really know what they can and can't do. As I have been there just over six months now (and two of those were sick!) I don't want them to just get rid of me, I am still an asset to the company even if I have to change roles, I have way more experience than my current role would require and therefore should be capable of doing any number of office based/training roles.

Essentially I am after advice..

Thanks

Freecar.

[Foliage]

Just be candid with your work, be company minded (which you clearly are). Open a dialogue with them

[anothernameitist]

6 months with them does mean your employemtn rights are limited.

But as above start the conversation, it's the only way to find out.

Try to take a friend or work colleague or your trade union rep if you are in a union.

Don't say yes to the option(s) given, be polite and go away and think about it.

Come back here for any more advice or the ACAS website is useful too.

[Jockman]

Will your injury lead to a Disability? Different ball game altogether.

The Employer must Risk Assess you either way. They can also send you to an Occupational Expert for an opinion.

What did the Accident Report say? Did you sign it?

[freecar]

Thanks for all your responses,

There was no accident, my injury was caused by repeated climbing up vertical ladders, my tendon got so inflamed after a while that I could no longer lift my arm, there wasn't any accident though, just the role not being compatible with my skeleton I guess, now I've had bone removed from one side there's no guarantee that it wont happen to the other side.

This shouldn't leave me with long term problems, although no guarantee that I'll ever be pain free in the shoulder, I should make a full recovery but that could take two years before I have full use and strength again (I've barely use my arm for nearly three months now!)

I am going to be seeing my consultant in a couple of days and I am going to ask him to write me a letter for my employer explaining what has happened, what he's done and my long term prognosis, I expect he'll give me the OK to return to work but maybe with light duties, which would make my current role impossible, to do that I need to be able to climb up and down many times a day and that may not be possible for a year or two or at all!

Thanks everyone, I shall keep this posted.

[edc]

Your employer needs this same information that you have and will either take it as is, ask more questions, get more tests done or refer you to their own occupational health service. They will want to know what you can and can't do and will need to engage with the business to see where your skills and experience can fit in, if there is space. Just because you can do other tasks does not mean that the company automatically has to assign those to you. I've managed and facilitated a number of these cases, some result in redeployment, some in ill health retirement and some in the employee leaving.