Off Duty Injury

LindaS

I have an employee who apparently fell off a roof this past weekend. This AM the injury was brought to my attention as was the fact that this EE has limited use of his right arm. He works in a set-up position and is responsible for ensuring machines are properly, and safely, set-up before an operator begins working on it.

I have been approached by two EEs expressing concern over his inability to tighten bolts appropriately and having to have another set-up person do this task.

I spoke with the EE this AM who stated that he had seen a physician and was released to full duty. He states that the physician told him they no longer put arms in slings and there was nothing they could do for him. He also stated that he refused any pain medication. As I was talking with him I could visibly see that he is favoring the arm and holding it as if it were in a sling.

I spoke with the supervisor who feels that nothing needs to be done as any task this EE is unable to complete can be done by someone else. I have obvious safety and possible W/C concerns. I'm thinking of requiring him to go in and be seen to determine his fitness for duty but since this is not a work related injury I'm concerned about potential privacy issues.

What do you think? Should I send him home until he returns with something in writing?

pork1

Regardless of the supervisor's advise, I would send the ee to a fitness for duty determination with our company retained physician. When there are safety issues pertaining to the ee's health or the health of any ee effected by this person's inability to accomplish his job task, then you could beeeee the oneeee identified as neglectful in the accomplishment of your responsibilities.

DO it now and not later!

PORK

Whatever

First of all, the ee should be examined by the company doctor immediately. By the way, did the ee bring in a note from his doctor stating he was released to full duty.
Second of all, the supervisor needs some additional training (if I was sarcastic I would say in common sense). If the supervisior has to assign someone else to the ee's job then obviously the supervisor must believe that the ee is not up to the job. Therefore, the ee should not be working.

LindaS

Unfortunately we do not have a "company doctor" by whom he can be examined. If we mandated he be examined it would be by the local walk-in physicians and at our expense. I'm not opposed to doing this but I want to make sure I'm not crossing any lines, especially since this is a non-work related issue.

LindaS

After reading your posts I contacted the plant manager regarding this issue who informed me that, as far as he was concerned, the EEs statement that he was okay to do his job was good enough for him. I then advised him that it is NOT good enough for me and explained WHY it wasn't.

I then contacted the EE (his shift was already done for the day) and informed him that he needed to return with a doctor's release before we could allow him back on his job. He said that he understood but later showed up at the supervisor's home, obviously under the influence of alcohol (after just pleading guilty to a DWI and having only an occupational license but that is a whole other story) asking what the "story" was. The supervisor told him to get a doctor's release, he said that he would and is not here yet today - I'm assuming he's going to the doctor's office but we'll see.

Thanks for the advice. Things would be so much easier if we DID have some sort of "company physician" for these instances!!

LivindonSouth

Requiring a fitness for duty report from a physician, his or yours or the one down the street, has nothing whatever to do with whether it's work related. Anytime there is knowledge or suspicion that an employee is not or is potentially not capable of full duty, that employee should be taken off the floor and required to produce evidence of capability to perform. Accompany his referral with a written job description.

The protection the release offers you, for one, is this: If the employee later claims aggravation or injury to that body part, your comp attorney (after you give it to him) has in hand the medical release stating that he was capable of performing the job and was released to full duty. The worst thing you can have (and tell your bonehead supervisor and manager this) is to allow him on the shop floor, the injury is exacerbated or he does not 'tighten nuts' properly, and someone else is injured. He then has a fine claim that 'Hey, the woman returned me to the job. She knew I fell of the house. They put me to work knowing I had a medical problem.'

A setup job is critical not only to quality, but the safety of operators.

LindaS

Don -

These are the EXACT reasons I gave to both the plant manager and the supervisor as to WHY we needed the physician's release.

Thanks

lorrie

One more step is to fax a copy of the employee's job description, including physical requirements, over to the doctor. A full-release without this means that the doctor is releasing the employee to do the job 'as described by the employee.' Will the ee really tell the doctor how important it is for him to be able to tighten bolts?

LivindonSouth

Getting managers and supervisors to 'see' the harsh side of reality on these issues is always an uphill struggle. At least until you get them up there with you. Then it's easy from there on out. The best way I've found to do it is to ALWAYS talk in terms of dollars. They think the rest of it is 'HR nonsense'.

When you have time, get from an attorney or a comp person some dollar amounts which represent: losing the tip of a finger, rotator cuff surgery, slip and fall with MRI and three weeks off work, the true cost of a set up man being off work for six weeks including replacement, lost time, comp payment of wages, perhaps overtime for somebody else, etc.

One of our biggest struggles is overcoming the management mentality that every employee needs to be constantly on production time, rarely if ever clocked to training, always at work, always available for mandatory overtime, no machine ever down even for necessary repair, no time to mop up oil spills, no time to fix ladders, to hell with the fork-truck that needs repair, fix the bare wire later and 'let em have their own damned picnic somewhere else'.



"Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot."
Charlie Chaplin

LindaS

Thought I would follow-up...

The EE just came into the office with a doctor's slip keeping him off work for a minimum of 5 days but he also has to be seen by a specialist for possible surgery.

My comment to him was, "Well I guess you hurt yourself worse than you thought". His response was, "Yeah". While he didn't come out and admit that he hadn't previously been seen by a physician, the point was obvious. He will be stopping back tomorrow after going to the specialist.

Part of me wants to go back to the plant manager and supervisor with an "I told ya so" but I will refrain.

Thanks for the advice. I feel very good about the direction I took this and feel good that the EE is getting the medical treatment he needs.