Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

Original poster

Off sick again - work issues

20 replies

raspberryswirly · 10/05/2022 08:15

I’ve had a few sick days now due to a bad back at work. I travel around different schools and messed my upper back/neck up due to sitting on kids chairs and low desks with my laptop. Anyway I was diagnosed with an elevated rib and severe back/neck nerve damage.

I communicated this with my boss and nothing much was done. She emailed all the schools saying they need to provide proper adult chairs/desks but that was all. No health and safety checks. She said she pointed me towards occupational health but she didn’t, it was just a generic message to our group chat about the employee portal (inc OH).

Yesterday I went to school and they provided me with an adult sided chair and desk. However it wasn’t an office chair, it was quite a flimsy plastic chair, and the desk was very low. I didn’t have a monitor or anything so my laptop was not at eye level, rather very low down so I was crouching a lot.
Come lunchtime and my back is red, swollen and tender to the touch. My school did what they could to help, we ended up having to find boxes to put my laptop on. This happens at the majority of my schools where I have to build up items to make my laptop at eye level.

Now I’ve woken up this morning with a very red, swollen and sore upper back which is extremely tender. I can barely move it. I’ve had to call in sick again and my boss is annoyed but I really feel it was never taken seriously and my needs are not taken as they should be. AIBU?

OP posts:

KrisAkabusi · 10/05/2022 08:30

You've posted a lot about this in the past, haven't you? It's down to your employer to make sure you have a safe, suitable workspace. Phoning the schools to tell them to do it is abdicating responsibility. Given how long this has been going on, I think it's time to escalate. If you're not in a union, join one now. Stop putting it off. Discuss options with a solicitor specialising in employment issues.

Original poster

raspberryswirly · 10/05/2022 08:30

Should I be feeling as guilty as I do ?

OP posts:

MajorCarolDanvers · 10/05/2022 08:36

You shouldn't be feeling guilty at all.

But you need to take proper action as outlined by pp.

Another option is to phone ACAS and get step by step advice from them on what to do.

Use your time off sick to put a plan together to tackle your employer.

GoldenEclipse · 10/05/2022 08:37

Have you contacted OH?

FreddyVoorhees · 10/05/2022 08:59

KrisAkabusi · 10/05/2022 08:30

This in absolute spades.

LittleOwl153 · 10/05/2022 09:05

Follow this employers link to the OH and any other support offered. You have to be seen to be doing your bit too.

But yeah sympathy with the 'annoyed boss' who should never have put you in this position to begin with. Make sure you are properly better before you return.

user1471457751 · 10/05/2022 09:13

Have you actually contacting OH yet? Because this has been going on for a while, and yes your employer has responsibility for your health, but so do you.

Pinkdelight3 · 10/05/2022 09:31

I remember your thread that last time there were some things on the adult-sized chair that you didn't move off so wrote a similar post about the child-sized chairs. Makes me feel there's more going on with you, writing it all out again but with a different issue this time. Feels like there's a chair but it's got things on it, then there's a chair but it's too flimsy, then there'll be an office chair but not an orthopaedic one, then again with the next school etc. Sorry you're in pain again, but you had lots of advice before and you'll get the same now so hopefully this time it will help. In the meantime, portable laptop stands cost a few quid and it's easier to take one with you than for every school you visit to have a monitor set up ready. Feeling guilty won't help you or your boss or anyone so focus on getting better and getting it sorted as per PPs and previous threads advice.

newtb · 10/05/2022 09:35

If you're off sick as a résulté, I'd have thought it would be counted as an industrial injury. If you're off a number of days thé HSE will be called in automatically. Unless you are signed off, nothing will be done.

BarbaraofSeville · 10/05/2022 09:43

I remember your previous thread and posted about how your workplace needs to do a DSE assessment and ensure that suitable equipment is provided so you can work without suffering injuries.

The requirements are fairly simple. They must do this, so what happened when you talked to OH and your Health and Safety people?

SoupDragon · 10/05/2022 09:51

My school did what they could to help, we ended up having to find boxes to put my laptop on. This happens at the majority of my schools where I have to build up items to make my laptop at eye level.

surely the easy answer to this is a portable laptop stand?

BarbaraofSeville · 10/05/2022 09:59

She said she pointed me towards occupational health but she didn’t, it was just a generic message to our group chat about the employee portal (inc OH)

What was that if it wasn't 'pointing you towards OH'?

I can see why your boss is annoyed TBH. You know you have an issue and you haven't done what you should have done to get help resolving it.

HappyCup · 10/05/2022 10:04

If you attend OH they’ll write a report detailing all the things your employee will then put in place to ensure you’re kept safe and well and able to continue working (ie portable laptop stand, Orthopaedic back support for chair, etc).

SoManyTshirts · 10/05/2022 10:08

If you show up somewhere and there isn’t a safe place for you to work, don’t work until one is provided. Keep in contact with your manager and let her know the position.

This is not (just) being arsey, it’s making sure you aren’t found equally to blame in any followup, disciplinary or injury claim.

Testina · 10/05/2022 10:13

“This happens at the majority of my schools where I have to build up items to make my laptop at eye level.“

Nothing negates your employer’s legal duty.

But you can get a portable, adjustable laptop stand from Amazon for under £20. Why on earth wouldn’t you have done that?

Motnight · 10/05/2022 10:19

I remember another thread you wrote about this Op, I am sure that there was something around you not removing someone's bag from either a desk or a chair that would have made that specific situation a whole lot easier. So like other posters I am wondering what else is going on with you around this as your responses don't seem in your own best interests.

You need to contact OH. Today!

Testina · 10/05/2022 10:22

KrisAkabusi · 10/05/2022 08:30

I don’t know that I’d agree it was abdicating responsibility. OP’s employer didn’t phone them schools - they emailed.
I’d want to see that email before deciding it’s abduction.
A school is a workplace that you might reasonably expect to be experienced in DSE assessment and provision.
What if the email reminded them on that duty and offered support if needed?
OP still has a (personal if not legal) responsibility not to work at an incorrectly set up desk.
She knew her laptops should be higher.
So why wait until she was in pain before seeking boxes for it?

Her boss should be more professional that to let it show, but I’d be pretty pissed off if I’d emailed a school to provide an adult workspace and OP didn’t then call me if it wasn’t correct, and chose to use it when she knew it would worsen her condition.

purpledagger · 10/05/2022 10:44

I do remember your last post and is this more about you wanting to be able to work from home, rather than having to remain on site at schools all day?

None of these problems are insurmountable, so I think you should follow up on the OH referral, in the first instance. There are numerous solutions;

a laptop stand to raise your keyboard to eye level. They can be cheap and lightweight.

a separate keyboard and mouse.

a wheelie suitcase for you for to put the items in.

I've worked with DSE assessors and they have improvised with equipment and whilst longer term arrangements are made - a rolled up towel can provide lower back support. Reems of printer paper can be used to prop up laptops or as a leg support.

I get it's difficult having to work across sites, but there are solutions.

Tschecked · 10/05/2022 10:48

I'm wondering what you do that puts you in this situation. I used to work in many schools and have never been forced to sit in an unsuitable position. Sometimes I arrived to find a small desk and chair and only had to politely point out that I couldn't work at that to be offered something else. Classrooms have the teacher's desk and usually other full-size furniture. The school office might have a space, or lend one of their desks for a while. I've sat in Head's offices at their desk but they almost always have desk and chair space for more than one person.
They don't sit Ofsted inspectors in tiny furniture do they? So they don't need to do that to you, and they won't if you point out that it's not practical.

lanthanum · 10/05/2022 11:04

Perhaps there needs to be an agreement that the schools are given your requirements, and if you arrive and they are not able to meet them, you go back to the office and get on with paperwork. If schools know that they will not get your services if they can't provide you with a proper chair and desk, they will sort it, even if that means the head has no chair that day. As far as the laptop goes, a portable laptop stand would be the sensible thing.

Flip