Occupational health

skinnydog

Do Occupational Health have any "weight" against employers?
I was assessed at the end of July for various adaptations to my workplace - nothing major - but only half have been done, the easy stuff. The rest - the bits that really make life painful have not been done. I work in an educational establishment and when the campus manager came to see what needed to be done he had a real "attitude" and said it would take time, no money etc etc.and" lets have a bit of self help here guys". HR were there and she was good but didnt make much headway with him either. Line manager also there but he's worse than useless anyway!

MrDJ

sounds like you work at the same place i do.
worked at same hospital for 32 years tomorrow.
2 years ago after a bad flare up of eye which almost ended up me having to have an eye removed one of my many managers decided i needed to be assesed by occy health again as i was on a heavy dose of morphine and codeine.
they suggested i contact access to work > http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/Employmentsupport/WorkSchemesAndProgrammes/DG_4000347
they arranged for a couple to come to my work place due to me being partially blind and access the area i worked in.
long story short it was agreed i needed a large print keyboard. a true light head band like the miners wear for the dark reporting areas (chairs and carpet are exactly the same colour) and a new chair. total cost roughly £2-3000 (chair built to my body spec etc). i had to pay a certain amount and then my department had to pay the rest.
as you can guess im still waiting and it was brushed under the carpet. i didnt follow it up as i know there were jobs on the line at the time and if i did push it then that money had to be saved elsewhere.

check the website out and see if it would help you out better than it did me.

frogmella

Hi,

I don't think OccHealth do have any "weight" as you put it. Employers get to decide what is "reasonable". Of course, you can always enter into discussion around what is reasonable. Having said that I suppose it depends what happens if they don't do the adjustments. Are you in a union? I don't know if they would be able to provide better advice? My experience of my union was that they just told me what google had already told me!!

freesia

I too have been through occupational health at work... a traumatic and very nerve racking time...

The O/H person seemed totally on my side, and their report was quite long.

I am no expert on law ect, and from what I gather, the occupational health report only offers suggestions for reasonable adjustments...
As far as the law, I'm NOT sure, but I belive they are only recommendations and although most employers (if good ones) will abide by the report, it is not a definate requirement....

Your employer 'should' make these reasonable adjustments:- BUT, If funds are tight / or space doesn't allow ect.... certain adaptations and or adjustments just might not be feasable to be done...

The best thing is just "summons" up the courage and gently ask... the worst they can say is NO, at least you'll know where you are then...

Take care xx

AndyMaz

My experience with OH has been pretty negative.

It started off well, they produced a report and sent it to my manager and HR. And that was pretty much it.

The lady I was dealing with has since tried to call me several times. Each time she calls I have been unavailable, either in a meeting or on another call. So she leaves a message for me to call back, which I duly do ASAP.

Each time I call I get through to a main switch board, leave a message for her to call me back and... nothing. Nothing at all. It's frustrating beyond belief. I've done this over a dozen times now, even called her when she's not called me etc. Then a few weeks ago I get a snotty letter saying she's tried calling me with no success, so I call back, leave a message and... still nothing!

So I've given up trying to call them now. Absolute waste of space.

annc67

Contact Access to Work. I contacted them last week, they complete the application over the phone and then send you a hard copy to check, sign and return, I got this within 2 days, read it carefully as I had to amend several things including my surname and postcode. Once they receive it back they will contact you with a view to assessing your workplace. You get a grant that you can use, with your employer, to put the things that they suggest into practice. Your employer HAS to comply with what they say, and they will check.

yaris

Yes they do and they will support al the way