Compensation for a bad burn

nickyjellybaby

Hi all,

I am having a bit of a quandry with what to do about compensation for 2nd degree burns I got on my hand...

I have been asked by the insurance guy to put together my medical costs and time out of work and inconvenience and tell him tomorrow night. My boyfriend is telling me 'to stick the boot in' - but he would cos he's a right Del Boy haha

Anyway, I slipped in a cafe (but i didn't fall, just lost my balance) right beside the till area. There was a large spillage on the floor which hadn't been cleaned up. I had a mug of tea with no milk in it and I got badly burnt all over the palm of my hand... It swelled up and I had to take my watch off. It went red and white in patches

I was handed a napkin by the staff! I rushed into the staff area and washed it under the cold tap. The 'Manager/Supervisor' suggested using ice! :mad:

Whats really annoying is that my mum arrived 10 mins before me and she almost slipped on the floor as well so that'll tell you it was an accident waiting to happen

So I sat back down, embarrased as I had roared my head off with a fair few profanities when I got burnt, and patiently waited for the staff to bring me my refill of tea and cake as offered- it didn't arrive. I had to use the sink again when the burning came back and had to ask for the refill again! THis really peed me off

When i asked the 'supervisor/manager' for cream or spray for burns she says 'i have a gel but it's not any good' can you believe it! I used it nonetheless after about 10 mins under the tap.

When we were leaving I asked this 'manager/supervisor' had she logged the accident she LIED and said she had. When I asked her did she not need my name and address she brought out the accident book and then recorded it.

I went into shock when I left the shopping centre, I couldn't drive with the shakes and had to go visit a nearby relative just to compose myself.

Went to the doc the following day, sensitivity had gone in the hand but it wasn't permanent and I couldn't fully extend my fingers but it's fine now (2 weeks later)

Anyway, I wrote a corker of a complaint letter. The in house solr in my job said I should get compensation for the pain and inconvenience.

So the insurance crowd have rang me to pay any medical bills and time taken off work etc and I've to tell him what i want...

I'm in a bit of a quandry. I was doing PR and marketing on the day and I had to stop when I got burnt.. I also cancelled my plans for the night as well as the whole pain factor and going to the doc... Nevermind the fact that the staff had no training yet they deal with hot liquids and steam constantly- this utterly appauls me.. I could've scalded a child or an old person

I've never done this before so any and all reasonable advice is appreciated.

(Sorry for the bad grammer, I'm writing this in a hurry!)

Cheers

Gillo

Not really a consumer issue (although I can see how you'd post here), you should try posting in the legal forum.

TBH I wouldn't take your boyfriends advice of "sticking the boot in" if the insurance company think you are submitting a fraudulent or over exaggerated claim they may not pay out at all or could drag it through the courts for years.

nickyjellybaby

No I don't do the whole 'stick the boot in' myself either

Ok, I'll copy it over to legal - thanks for that!

mcaul

Based on a previous experience of something similar, the insurance company will pay all medical bills and a payment in region of €5000 should be offered for pain & distress.

It will unlikely to be any more than that as there are no long term effects from the incident.



Above is only opinion based on a friend's fall in a cafe 2 years ago resulting in fractured thumb preventing driving for 2 weeks but with no other affects. - In that case the cafe couldn't have done more to alleviate the inconvienence.

axer

nickyjellybaby wrote: »

Whats really annoying is that my mum arrived 10 mins before me and she almost slipped on the floor as well so that'll tell you it was an accident waiting to happen

I hope she brought it to the attention of one of the workers.

thefinalstage

Dear god woman...am I the only one that thinks she over reacted? A burned hand....we have all had that. Shock when driving home? Over what? I mean the staff did not spill the liquid and did your mother tell the staff when she nearly fell over? They may not have noticed.

BTW: The staff are suppose to have special training to deal with hot liquid and steam? haha. All they need to know is don't touch it .

sdanseo

thelastangryman wrote: »

They may not have noticed.

That's no excuse ffs. It's their responsibility to make sure the place is safe for customers. Place where I work we're constantly hassled about getting yellow signs up over spillages (and of course, clearing them up) because of the fear of lawsuits.

@OP - you're obviously entitled to something here, but play it intelligently. Sticking the boot in as has been said may get you nowhere.

Leeby

thelastangryman wrote: »

Dear god woman...am I the only one that thinks she over reacted? A burned hand....we have all had that. Shock when driving home? Over what? I mean the staff did not spill the liquid and did your mother tell the staff when she nearly fell over? They may not have noticed.

BTW: The staff are suppose to have special training to deal with hot liquid and steam? haha. All they need to know is don't touch it .

What makes you so sure it wasn't a staff member who spilled it?

And I'd agree that it seems reasonable there should be at least one staff member trained in first aid, or at the very least there should be a first aid kit to hand rather than on request of some assistance being told "yeah I do have gel, but it's crap so don't use it".

axer

sdonn_1 wrote: »

That's no excuse ffs. It's their responsibility to make sure the place is safe for customers. Place where I work we're constantly hassled about getting yellow signs up over spillages (and of course, clearing them up) because of the fear of lawsuits.

Ok, what about I go spill something covertly in a restaurant or if I don't do it on purpose and I don't tell anyone I have spilt it. Next thing 30 seconds later a person comes along slips and breaks their arm. It is impossible for them to notice every spill.

It could look a bit suspicious that the ops mother nearly slipped, seemingly didn't tell a member of staff and then her daughter slips and injures herself minutes later which is resulting in an insurance payout.

Oryx

Op, are you hurt now, are there any lingering marks or soreness on your hand? Did you lose money through being unable to work? How much did the doctor cost you? If you are not in pain now and they recompense you for the doctor, should you really be entitled to a lot of money? A mistake was made, I grant you, and hopefully kicking up a stink will make them improve their procedures and get you a sincere apology. But the compo culture that makes people feel that any accident should earn money irritates me. If you are badly injured yes, but was it really so bad you need to go through legal proceedings and demand a large sum?

board om

seriously, i would expect a free lunch if i were you and nothing more. it is ridiculous what people expect nowadays. you are talking about a sting in your hand for a few hours, a sore finger the next day, no permanent scarring. you could do worse yourself at home. you should stick the boot in with the insurer, then hopefully they will come after you for making a fraudulent claim. it might stop people making these ridiculous claims over nothing. its people who do things like this that are driving up insurance costs for everyone else. are we going to get like the US now where we claim if someone farts in the same room as us?

OP, being serious here, i wouldnt push your luck. insurance companies are far from stupid and they deal with situations like this every day. they dont stay in business by giving money away unnecessarily. they are giving you the chance to give them a genuine amount that you wish to claim for. not what you feel you are owed becuase you didnt get to go on your night out or becuase someone convinced you it might be worth a few quid. so be very careful. if you come back with a ridiculous figure they are going to laugh and tell you they will see you in court and a court will give you sweet F A. if you come back with a modest figure that includes doctors fee, solicitor fee, lost wages, etc then they will most likely sort it out there and then. we are basiclaly talking a few hundred euro here and dont let greed make you think otherwise.

parsi

I imagine that it goes through the PIAB first. Then the shop gets the demand and they may decide to sort it out before it goes as far as the insurance co.

sdanseo

axer wrote: »

Ok, what about I go spill something covertly in a restaurant or if I don't do it on purpose and I don't tell anyone I have spilt it. Next thing 30 seconds later a person comes along slips and breaks their arm. It is impossible for them to notice every spill.

It could look a bit suspicious that the ops mother nearly slipped, seemingly didn't tell a member of staff and then her daughter slips and injures herself minutes later which is resulting in an insurance payout.

The shop I work in is a fairly big convenience-store type place, and I'd notice a spill very quickly if I wasn't confined to tills. Add to that the fact that most cafés are very significantly smaller, and the fact that according to the OP at least 10 minutes passed while nobody noticed it...

CCTV ftw as goes your conspiracy theory, and as we don't have access to that - it's a forum. We have to take what the OP says at face value, different context if you're implying there was a scam. My point referred to a legitimate spillage (Lord, that sounds nerdy ).

BJC

Please OP, do not follow up on this. We live in a society of blame already let's not make it worse.

I understand where you're coming from but the only real problems here are that the spill wasn't immediatley cleaned up and they didn't immediatley log it in the accidents&injuries book. But in regards to the spill, its a cafe, im sure tea gets spilled every 15 minutes:

axer wrote: »

It is impossible for them to notice every spill.

That's totally correct and I'm sure the till is where it mostly happens aswell, they are only human! You don't seem to have any lasting damage and it's very true to say you could have and probably have done worse in your own kitchen(I know I have). I would encourage you to take action if this had a major impact on your life but luckily that doesn't seem to be the case. Come on, lets be adults.

jhegarty

BJC wrote: »

Please OP, do not follow up on this. We live in a society of blame already let's not make it worse.

I think the Op would be very entitled to their expenses (medical + any lost wages) there is a big difference between compo culture and just not been out of pocket !

board om

jhegarty wrote: »

I think the Op would be very entitled to their expenses (medical + any lost wages) there is a big difference between compo culture and just not been out of pocket !

I would agree with someone not being out of pocket for an incident like this. So if they 'had' to take a day off work because of the injury and they 'had' to go to the doctor then I think it only fair that they get reimbursed.

But funnily enough in these cases a lot of the time the doctor’s visits and the days taken off work seem to come about after the person has decided that there might be a claim. In other words they don’t think the injury is serious enough that they should go to the doctor or take time off work, but then when they decide that there is a chance that they might claim they end up taking a day off work to go to the doctors to get the injury assessed. Then they want to add the cost of the doctor’s fee and the day off work in to the claim. But you have to ask yourself, if they weren’t claiming in the fist place would the costs be there at all, or is it because of the claim that the costs arise. If the person had done this in their own kitchen at home and there was nobody to claim off, would they waste a day off work and the cost of a doctor getting it checked out? What I am trying to say is by making a claim are they creating costs that wouldn’t have arisen if the claim had not existed?

Obviously I am not accusing the OP of doing this. I am just saying how I find it ironic in small claims like this how the costs that are being claimed for arise out of the claim rather than because of the actual injury itself. Realistically what should be the case is if someone has an accident and they feel the injury is serious enough they will go to the doctor and get it checked out. If there are costs involved in getting the injury treated and if they have to take days off work to get the treatment that is when they should go back to the person or place that was at fault and see about getting reimbursed for the bills. Unfortunately it rarely seems to happen this way and instead it is claim first and asks questions later.

BJC

jhegarty wrote: »

I think the Op would be very entitled to their expenses (medical + any lost wages) there is a big difference between compo culture and just not been out of pocket !

I agree with you that the OP should not be out of pocket, I wouldn't have a problem with that at all and the cafe would most probably reimburse her quickly and quietly for a small sum like that as long as she could provide proof of it to the manager/area manager, after all, it is bad publicity.

board om wrote: »

It is claim first and asks questions later.

This is the unfortunate truth though so I'm wary to give any encouragement to claim as things often esculate, people are greedy b-astards.
But I am not accusing the Op of this and do suggest she request reimbursment on doctors fee's and possibly lost wage (if any).

311

At least once a month I burn my hands in work ,sometimes skin actually comes off.

Am I entitled to compensation ,because whenever it happens it's a bit sore.

axer

311 wrote: »

At least once a month I burn my hands in work ,sometimes skin actually comes off.

Am I entitled to compensation ,because whenever it happens it's a bit sore.

There is a health and safety problem in your workplace then. It should be reported to your manager and if they do not take appropriate action then yes, legal action can and should be taken against them to make them change.