Who is responsible?

[Pandaghost]

I had an engineer from a large company attend my home. He accidentally smashed a lamp which is now unusable (antique lamp and cannot replace the glass). He made an attempt to clean up which consisted of collecting the large pieces of glass and leaving them in a box on the stairs (in easy reach of my children) and did not use the vacuum or dustpan and brush provided (I would normally have cleaned myself but I was post op and couldn't carry the vacuum and had children literally attached to my hip - I did explain this and apologise to him for not doing it myself). Needless to say there was a lot of shards left which caused me to cut myself and then bleed quite considerably on the carpet.
Contacted the company to report damage and they said to contact the subcontractor that carried out the work (I was unaware of this). Did so..and they told me to contact a third party who completes work on their behalf. Third party are not replying to my emails and neither original nor second party will help me.
My view is that my contract is with the original company and I had no idea that this third party were involved. Aibu to expect some assistance from original company?

Your contract is with the company that you asked to do the work, they bear responsibility, even though they didn't physically cause the damage. Tell them if they don't sort it out and recompense you suitably, you'll see them in court. In the meantime, try and get a price for a replacement. I know you said it's antique, so may be irreplaceable, but if you purchased it, and it was rare, presumably you have a receipt. Have you kept the pieces, as if they want to claim on their insurance, they may be needed?

Thanks for the advice.
I have photographs of the damage and the mess that was left. I completed the claims forms for the second party insurance and thought we were proceeding as they said they had everything they needed and then came back 2 weeks later and said they had completed their investigations and it wasn't them doing the work!! Im hoping the photos will suffice as I dont have the items anymore and the carpet has been cleaned. The incident happened 7 weeks ago now

I'd contact your contents insurance company tbh, and pass on the company's details to them.

If you want to claim for the carpet, you might have to answer questions about how you managed to bleed quite considerably on it though.

What's the issue? The accidentally smashing or not cleaning up? Did he know that the brush and shovel were there?

Im reluctant to go through ny insurance as I don't want to affect my premium. The glass was on the far side of the room and I was wearing very thin socks (stupid in hindsight as I knew there had been a breakage). I cut my foot and then had to tip toe out of the room so there were drops of blood across a very light carpet.. my initial description may be a little OTT in hindsight!

Yes. I gave him the dustpan and brush and asked him to take the vacuum from the cupboard (post op so couldn't carry it upstairs to where he was working).
The issue is that my property has been damaged and the companies involved will not take any liability and it seems that im just expected to be out of pocket