Employment problem where do I stand - long

[chloemummy]

I have carpal tunnel which has been diagnosed in 2007. Employer eventually got me an ergonomic keyboard. Recently I have been having bad pains in my forearms and shoulders. I told my employer this andthey went on the defensive - what did I want them to do. Making me come up with the solution so that I feel like the villian. I work for barristers. They have meetings with me and dont put anything in writing so I dont know where I stand. They have never done a workplace assessment. I asked them to get someone in to do one but they dont seem to want to do it. Now they want to pay for a private app. to occupational health which their lawyers suggested. Can anyone tell me what sort of procedures they should be following. I told my boss I wanted to sign the accident book - he said that they would take my email as that..

Bombarding me with questions as what does my dr say what does my consultant say..... They ahve stressed me out so much I thought about going sick but at the minute they are talking to me. I have been in my job 9 yrs. I only told them because I think I have rsi but not confirmed yet... HELP I really dont know what to do. My colleagues at work are distancing themselves as I reckon they are all scared of losing their jobs... It is really getting to me. They dont seem to have any procedures in place and I am stressing myself out trying to find the solutions to the probs.... They are focussing on my work related injury...

I cant afford a solicitor. They have meetings with me two of them and then they get me in such a state that I cant remember what happens at the meeting. Please help someone and put it into perspective. Thank you.

Have a look here about what your employer's responsibilities are with regard to your health and safety. Risk assessment is obviously one of the main ones, and if they are refusing to do a risk assessment for you, particularly given your problems in the past, that's not good enough and you should draw their attention to their responsibilities.

It's not unreasonable of them to want to know what your doctor says about your condition. If you are not off sick presumably your doctor thinks you are fit for work at the moment?

You say they are 'focusing on your work-related injury' as if that is a negative thing. Have you had confirmation from a doctor that it is work-related? If so, them focusing on it is not a bad thing, surely?

Similarly them paying for an occupational health appointment is a good thing. OH specialists will encounter lots of similar conditions and will be able to advise both you and your employers how to handle the situation.

You mention wanting to sign the accident book but I'm not sure the accident book is for things like developing pains in arms/shoulders. I'm not a health and safety expert but I would use the accident book for things like trips, falls, burns, cuts, one-off incidents, not ongoing, developing conditions.

You mention that you can't afford a solicitor. Why do you think you need one? Are they threatening to sack you or something? Or is this to try to force them to comply with their risk assessment responsibilities? You could ring the HSE if they continue to refuse to risk assess you.

I think the visit to the OH specialist is a good next step.

Thank you flowerybeanbag. I am not off sick as I dont want to close the channels of communication. I have not had a work related injury confirmed. I called the HSE and they said that they should do a workplace assessment.

I thought I needed a solicitor as they dont seem to have any procedures. I get called into meetings and as they are barristers I think they dont want to put anything in writing. Just feel very confused and the stress is making me ill. May be I am overreacting. They have given me some money to go to an alexander technique practitoner I had been seeing but obviously did not want to keep paying out if it was not doing anygood. You feel it is positive..

I forgot to say my dr has referred me back to rheumatology and I have an appointment at the end ofApril. I am just frightened by doing my job I am doing myself more damage... I need a new chair as it is not a typist chair, I might need a split keyboad, different mouse - are these the things a occupational person would do. My doc said an occupational therapist says whether you can do your job or not - I suppose I jsut need some clarity.

I had really chronic carpal tunnel syndrome while I was pregnant and there is a steriod injection you can have in your wrists (that I had) that works very well for a while. Problem is they only do it a couple of times before you are recommended for an operation.

I would very highly recommend a particular mouse that you hold with your arm twisted differently. I can't remember its name but could find out if you want. After the injections it made the difference between continuing to work or not. You do need a work place assesment and I find volteral (I can't remember the spelling) help quite a lot but that I think is steroid based too. Your work should take this seriously.

by the way it is called 'Evoluent Vertical mouse'. It is amazingly good.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'not having any procedures'. What procedures do you feel are missing? What is it you want them to 'put in writing'? If there are conversations you think should be in writing you can do that if you feel you need to.

The bottom line is you have a health problem that may or may not be either caused or exacerbated by your work, and the question is whether they are supporting you adequately or not.

Money for Alexander Technique and an appointment with an occupational health specialist are both positive things they are doing. Obviously they should be doing assessments as well, and you should be pushing that, but they don't sound like they are ignoring the problem or anything.

An occupational health specialist is just that, an expert in health issues at work. Part of that is saying whether you can do your job, but a big part is advising you and your employer what changes need to be made to enable you to do your job.

Chloemummy, I would second what Flower has said. It comes through in your posts that you are really stressed, and that is understandable, but try and take a step back. If I was advising an employer in this situation, this is what I would suggest that they do:

• Do a risk assessment: which they haven't done yet and needs to be followed up, but to be fair they may be waiting on the information from your doctor to be able to do it with more background;

• Get information from your doctor to understand the condition and see how they can support you: they are doing this;

• Send you to Occ Health to get a more detailed picture of the position and support they can give: again, they are doing this;

• Implement the recommendations from the reports, if that is practical (for example, if the Occ Health recommends keyboards, reduced hours, etc, then that is probably practical. If he recommends that you never type and your job is 90% typing, then that requires a follow up wider discussion about other roles you could take on, etc); and

• Think about anything else they can do: by offering to pay for the Alexander technique, they seem to be doing this.

I would try and view all of this positively unless and until you have any reason to believe that they are thinking of trying to dismiss you. TBH, it sounds at the moment like they are just doing everything they can to try and address the problem.

I also agree with Flowery that the accident book is for exactly what it says - accidents. Trips, falls, cuts, burns, etc. It wouldn't be used for long term conditions. It has detail like "1 March - Alison tripped over a trailing cable from computer. No visible injury. Action taken: re-route cable."

If you get upset by the meetings, why don't you explain this and ask if a colleague can come along and sit in with you? A lot of employers will agree to this because it is an automatic right in disciplinary or grievance situations. Although this isn't a disciplinary or grievance, having a colleague sit in should feel like a familar way of proceeding, IYSWIM.

Just to say I had the startings of carpal tunnel/RSI problems 15+years ago (doing silly hours at work as a computer programmer), which after a few months of problems & Drs report my employer arranged an OH visit. They were FANTASTIC. I ended up with an ergonomic, split keyboard, new mouse & mouse mat, new desk & new chair, so that my position at the PC was the best it could possibly be. The difference it made was amazing. I even ended up buying the same kit to use on my PC at home, as I could feel the difference when I was using "normal" stuff. I also had a course of physio where they used a sonic (I think? long time ago, can't remember...) machine to break up the scar tissue on the tendons in my wrists & gave me exercises to do to keep thjings moving freely, that helped too.

15 years on I still get occasional aches & pains if I do too much of one thing (painting or using secateurs is bad too, so "delegated" to DH now ) but I just wear my wrist splints for a few days & it soon calms down again. (Also do physio exercises still)

I asked about the accident book, but was told it's not for potential work related injuries, just accidents, so I think Flowery is right.

Just wanted to post this to say & know it's scary to be where you are now, but IME & with the right help it can be resolved so that there is minimal impact on your job & life

Thank you all for your support.

I am a lone parent with no family and I have a mortgage to pay. That is possibly why I am overreacting. Thank you Betsyboop it is encouraging to see someone get through this..... I dont seem to be able to see the wood for the trees and I suppose to a certain degree is is out of my control and I feel I wish I never told them I had a problem. I was scared if I continued I would end up disabled. Got in touch with a RSI support group and I am unsure if that helped... Felt overwhelmed by all the information to the extent I felt I was not functioning.... My daughter is 8 and it is rubbing off on her now as I try to be positive at the same time struggling badly...

Also I am unsure if I want to give access to mmy medical records - do they find out everything or does it have to be related solely to this condition. Can I see waht my dr writes first..

basically I feel like a scared rabbit in the headlights of a car....

Betsyboop did the OH come to your workplace then? They want to send me to a private dr in St Johns wood

I agree with the others - I just want to add - if you go and see OT the meeting is confidential. i.e they will either confirm or deny your claim of ill health. Or perhaps even say further investigation is necessary. All the employer will get is a statement of fact - no personal medical history should be disclosed.

I would recommend you do not agree to any further disclosure at the minute. Just go and see what they say. It is at least a free check up for you and might help you with a diagnosis.

I type for court not sure if there is any other position I could do? I know I am projecting too much, dreaming up scenarios but I realise that is not doing me any good. I work 3 days per week. I am stressed also as I have no support to help me and I have to look after a child and work and do everything...

Sorry I need to calm down and get things in prospective and you have all helped.

callmeovercautious it is my employer that told me that they would need access to my medical records and my dr said if I did not want this then I can refuse but I dont know the best way forward.

TBH - we usually only send people to the OT to confirm a diagnosis rather than ask for full disclosure of medical records.

And it is usually to help keep them in work rather than use it as "ammo" to get them out. So I see it as a positive thing.

Are they asking for full details from the GP and an OT visit?

There's no need for them to see all your medical history. They will write to your GP and you must give permission obviously for him to disclose information but they won't ask for your entire medical history. What you can do to make sure is make it clear when you give permission that you only give permission to your GP to release information directly relevant to the enquiry in question.

I would agree with what Flowery said. Although I realise it is a bit scary, it is actually perfectly normal for the Occ Health to want to see your medical records. This enables them to see the clinical diagnosis and the investigations/treatments you have received, which in turn makes the report better.

The important thing to bear in mind is that agreeing to Occ Health seeing your medical records does not mean that your employer will see them- Occ Health will just use it to help write the report and then your employer sees that report. This should happen as a matter of course, and you might find that the consent you are being asked to sign makes this clear. However, if not (or if it makes you more comfortable), you can add onto your consent that you are only allowing the Occ Health to see the records and do not allow your employer to do so.

Likewise, as Flowery has said, you can make it clear that you only want records relating to this issue disclosed, which Occ Health should be fine with.

I would think really carefully before refusing to let Occ Health see any records - you often end up with a worse report that finds it harder to make recommendations about ways to help you. That, in turn, is not as good for you.

HTH

Thank you everyone for making the time to post. My stress levels are going through the roof. My dd did not want to got to school today as she has a tummy ache. I managed to persuade her to go... I think the stress of it all is affecting her. I think I feel worse as I feel the situation is out of my control. I emailed my work as I suggested a preferred specialist. I dont want to go into detail on here. Can anyone give me their email address so I can talk through it off the board. Got such a dry mouth. I am going for an alexander treatment at 10.30. I am due in work tomorrow. Then a have holiday for a week but then stressing that they wont let me have it..
Ribena what does HTH mean. Every detail I am stressing about.

you can email me on flowery dot beanbag at ntlworld dot com

Hope that Helps = HTH!

Yes OH came to see me at work

They looked at my work area & we discussed a typical day's activities

We then went off into a private room to discuss things further (I guess this bit could be done away from the office, but I had no problem in meeting them on work territory.) They then produced a report detailing recommendations for my employer - which they followed to the letter (would be daft to do otherwise I guess as they would leave themselves wide open to a compo claim if things got worse)

If memory serves me right I gave OH the authority to get medical records relating to my problem from my GP & specialist (my employer didn't get them) So if you are worried about this as other have said make sure any access you agree is for OH only & only info relevant to current problem, but it will help OH give better advice if they have this info.

The other bit of advice I got from my union at the time was to keep a file of everything possible related to this (I still have mine somewhere ). Hopefully you won't end up having to make a compo claim, but it will be much easier to do this if you have a trail of the history in one place. If they have meetings to discuss it but don't put it in writing, there is nothing to stop you doing a "just to confirm what we agreed at our meeting earlier..." email.

Try not to panic, it looks like your employer has woken up to the fact that there is a potential work related injury here which they could be at least partly culpable for, so they are trying to take action to fix it & cover their a$$es. They are probably not going about it in most sensitive way, but don't read something negative into everything they do. If you've been there 9yrs & proved yourself a valuable & reliable employee before all this, they will be wanting to find ways to keep you, not get rid.

I'd been in my job 6yrs when my problems started & I think I'd had 2days off sick before all this started, so they knew I wasn't swinging the lead, even though you yourself think that everyone else will be thinking it.

Betsyboop are you about - got me an appointment today for tomorrow. What do I do? Trying not to be frightened.

Hi chloemummy - it will be fine If you get the chance use some of the time at the end to pick their brains about how you can get it treated etc.

You might as well use the opportunity of a private checkup to get some advice

who is your appointment with CM ? OH? specialist Dr?

Don't be nervous, they will just be trying to understand more fully your problems & come up with things that can help make things better and/or stop things getting worse.

If you've got any questions, jot them down on a bit of paper beforehand, if you are anything like me your mind will go blank at the crucial moment

Ask about recommended course of action, any treatment, physio etc, changes to workstation, changes to work pattern (eg more frequent breaks - I used to have a "stress ball" I'd squeeze for 30secs every 15mins)

Let us know how you get on

Thank you. I will try - I am going to bed now. x