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Original poster

Baby injured by negligence: do I complain, sue, what?

126 replies

cockle · 06/11/2004 21:10

Feeling very angry after a horrible experience in a children's hairdressers with DS. He's just 9 months and it was his first haircut - a bit of a whim really but his hair was very wild and patchy. Wish I'd never bothered.

Hairdresser strapped him into chair and pumped chair up to quite a height (1 metre?). Haircut over, he suddenly plunged headfirst onto the floor - it turned out the harness hadn't been attached to the bl**dy chair.

His head and face are badly bruised, grazed and swollen - he looks a complete mess - but TOUCH WOOD he seems to be otherwise OK - took him to A&E and had him thoroughly checked over - just keeping an eye on him now (they let us take him home as DP is a doctor).

The fact is though, a fall like that could have killed him. The hairdresser was reasonably apologetic, but the manager was crap - EVENTUALLY appeared and asked what had happened, then wandered off again to serve other customers. Accidents will happen, but a place like that which specialises in babies in children should (a) have proper equipment, (b) use it properly, and (c) train its staff in safety procedures. Hairdresser admitted she hadn't checked the harness was attached (it wasn't part of the chair).

So now what? I am furious and want to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else. I also want to make these people face up to the seriousness of their negligence and make them realise that you cannot afford to be blase and negligent when dealing with children. What would you do?

OP posts:
Original poster
cockle · 06/11/2004 22:47

Yes of course I wish I had cut it myself now

OP posts:
pixiefish · 06/11/2004 22:49

Hinsight is a wonderful thing cockle- don'e beat yourself up about it. The main thing is that he's ok.

Do something about it though

Twiglett · 06/11/2004 22:52

complain .. YES ...loudly, vociferously, in writing and demand action is taken to ensure it doesn't happen again

sue .. NO

Rowlers · 06/11/2004 22:55

Agree with Twiglett.
Also not sure I'd involve local press. If you get poor / no repsonse then maybe, but I wouldn't go down that line in the first instance.
Hope all is well with DS, poor little mite.
I remember having my hair cut when I was young, about 7 or 8. The hairdresser made me kneel on the chair and I became so weak, I fainted and fell off the chair. Don't think I hurt myself too badly but I still remember it!

handlemecarefully · 06/11/2004 22:57

Rowlers,

And why not the local press?

Rowlers · 06/11/2004 23:01

Because I think it would be very damaging and I would like to give them a chance to apologise first. Maybe I'm too cautious.
If I had heard a number of complaints about the same place, then maybe I would think differently.

handlemecarefully · 06/11/2004 23:08

No you're just nicer than me. If it was me I wouldn't mind being very damaging to the hairdressers concerned (nasty person, eh? )

But - sigh - you're probably right that they ought to have a chance to redeem themselves (spoilsport! ). But then again, a 9 month old baby - it gets me worked up thinking about it

agy · 06/11/2004 23:16

What about the local authority? Do hairdressers have to have a licence? Wonder if there are any byelaws about safety.

Aero · 06/11/2004 23:30

Agree with Twiglett and Rowlers that you should complain to them loud and clear. This was a very serious oversight by the stylist, and thankfully there is no lasting damage, but this should be a lesson to them to be more vigilant in future. Do make a copy of any letter of complaint though and keep any response. Hopefully, what unfortunately hapened to your ds will never happen again in that hairdressers and lessons have been learnt from it, but should you ever hear of any other similar 'accidents', that would be the time to involve outside agencies. I think though that they should have a chance to improve things safetywise.

bonkerz · 06/11/2004 23:40

not sure if this will help but heres my story.

Went to a local DIY store to look at rabbit runs, dh was running and a blue pallet which was propped on its side fell on top of him and caused bleeding and bruising to his nose and chin.(ds 3 at time) In shock and just went home with ds after accident filed by staff! took photos and dh wrote snotty letter to the said store. had to take ds to drs who said he had burst vessels in nose causing bleeding for a few days. His injuries had gone after 5 days but we recieved a letter from the stores head office offering £500 comp! As long as you have photos you can make the hairdressers aware they cant be so careless!

doobydoo · 06/11/2004 23:52

How Awful for you both,but don't you think you should have checked the harness for yourself tomake sure it was all ok?
Hope your little boy is ok.

Levanna · 07/11/2004 00:55

Hi cockle, I'd be just as furious as you! I would definitely take this further, as you said earlier, what about the next child. I think it was entirely reasonable of you to assume that the harness was attatched securely to something. Maybe some people who've posted might have double checked, but not neccesarily and that's the point, the problem needs to be highlighted that it's not safe to trust this particular establishment with your child's safety, no matter how experienced with children they describe themsleves to be and regardless of the safety concious atmosphere they create. I hope your poor DS is feeling better tomorrow, and that you are ok too.

Original poster
cockle · 07/11/2004 08:03

Well in retrospect doobydoo yes, of course I should've checked the harness but it looked fine and the hairdresser seemed to know what she was doing. It honestly didn't occur to me that it wouldn't be attached to the chair.

Don't you think I'm beating myself up about this enough already?

PS DP is a paediatric surgeon and sees children's casualties every day. He is absolutely scrupulous about safety but didn't see anything wrong with the harness either.

Levanna - and everyone else - thank you for your supportive messages.

OP posts:
JJ · 07/11/2004 08:07

cockle, maybe write a letter to the shop and if you don't get a satisfactory response, take it further to the press. And if the press doesn't pick it up, threaten legal action.

I think I'd just start with the letter and stop when I was satisfied they had gotten the message that this is inexcusable.

Hope you little guy is ok.

Original poster
cockle · 07/11/2004 08:09

DS looks much better this morning - other than a bit of a black eye and some scabs that have developed overnight, everything else has improved and he seems very much his normal self, thank god.

DP & I have had a brief chat and so far the plan is to write a strong letter of complaint in the first instance and see what the response is before taking it any further. DP is also planning to go in to the shop to check whether they're still using the same chair & harness.

OP posts:
Original poster
cockle · 07/11/2004 08:10

Thanks JJ, our messages crossed but we've come to the same conclusion!

OP posts:
Freckle · 07/11/2004 08:12

You could involve your local trading standards office. Their phone number should be in your telephone directory. Or you can register a complaint online here .

Or perhaps the Health and Safety Executive. That should put the wind up the manager.

Hope your little one is OK now.

Original poster
cockle · 07/11/2004 09:02

Thanks Freckle, that's really useful

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ScummyMummy · 07/11/2004 09:05

Oh poor you and ds, cockle. It must have been a terrible shock for you both. There's just nothing worse than that physical rush of fear you feel when your baby is hurt, is there? Hope you find a way of resolving this- lots of good advice here. I think I'd go for a letter saying how very upset you and ds were in the first instance. Good Luck.

marthamoo · 07/11/2004 09:06

I wouldn't have checked the harness either. It wouldn't have occurred to me for one second that anyone could be so stupid as to put a child in a harness and not actually secure it to anything.

Original poster
cockle · 07/11/2004 09:11

Thank you marthamoo and scummymummy for your sympathy

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moomina · 07/11/2004 09:13

Did they write it all down in an accident book and get you to sign it? I'm pretty sure this is a legal Health & Safety requirement - it's certainly what we have to do if anyone (staff or customers) have an accident where I work. Especially somewhere like a hairdressers where they are dealing with chemicals etc - they sound very blase about it all from what you have said.

Definitely write a strong letter and give them a date by which you want them to reply. If you don't get any joy by that date, then contact H&S Executive and make a complaint. And then you might want to think about your local rag...

Hugs to your poor ds ((())) - and to you!

Original poster
cockle · 07/11/2004 09:15

Good point Moomina - and thanks for the much-needed hugs

OP posts:
agy · 07/11/2004 09:42

Can you name and shame? Have you got a free legal advice line with your home or car insurance? Hope he's ok now.

maomao · 07/11/2004 09:49

That's awful! How are you all this morning, cockle?

I think you got some very good advice here, and hope that you did take some photos and wrote a record of the incident, at the very least. I do agree about going to the local paper, as it is important for other parents to hear about your experience to ensure that it doesn't happen again.

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