Nasty burn to left hand

[laurence1976]

I recently received a very nasty burn to my left hand whilst making safe a leak to a District heating system.

As I could not find any drain points in the property (a flat which is heated with a communal boiler) I contacted my superviser for advice, and was told to reduce the pressure by turning off all the valves in the airing cupboard and bleeding a rad so to reduce the pressure sufficiently to be able to safely cap off the pipe.
I followed these instructions and as a result of removing a fitting to cap off the pipework, had boiling hot water at full mains pressure gush out all over my hand. I did manage to cap the pipework but needed hospital treatment and am still off work as a result of this (two weeks so far).

What advice would you give to this? Do you suggest I contact my union in respect to making a claim? I am in two minds as this may effect my position with the company I work for and do not want individuals made responsible for what happened. Also what should have been the correct procedure with regards to fixing this leak, was I advised correctly in attempting to reduce the pressure?
any advice would be greatly appreciated, Laurence.

 

[IanDB]

I'm not a plumber or legal eagle but I believe you did everything right. Firstly you recognised a problem and sought advice. You then followed that advice and as a result had an accident. Your superviser has a duty of care and in this case is unfortunately up the creek without a paddle.

I would take it up with your union as you have suffered an injury through someone else's negligence. Not so much from the claim point of view but if you don't raise it who will get injured next time around? Will it be worse?

I appreciate your situation about not wanting to get people into trouble but people won't avoid future accidents by covering up previous ones.
If you work in a reasonably employee friendly environment then there should be sufficient understanding to ensure that you can raise this without fear. It is a Health & Safety issue (capital letters).

 

[bripl]

a few points to remember when working on hphw systems,never work alone,never trust one valve.your employer should of supplied you with a risk assessment and method statement about how to deal with the problem.you say you spoke to your supervisor he should of given you written instructions.speak to your union rep ore local hse officer they will have better knowledge/procedures to follow up your case

 

[PEDANTICVINDICTIVEMAN]

Not wanting to sound unsympathetic and I hope your hand gets better soon, but, it seems to me you were on site and responcible for your own actions, if you weren't up to the job maybe you should have left the job and asked for someone else to do it who is competent with these sort of systems.
When I worked for a firm years ago, me and another plumber were given a wooden ladder to use, the other plumber went up and I could see the ladder was "VERY" bendy, when he came down I said I wasnt going up it and neither was he, bearing in mind he was the older chap I took the decision and immediately cut the ladder up into peices so it wouldn't get sent to another job, I then went and got another ladder on the firms acccount which was safe, I certainly wasn't risking my life and limb or my colleages.
I think workers have to take responcibilty for their own actions and cant keep blaming "others", admitting you didn't know what you were doing and then carrying on anyway is down to you.
Now if you had requested safety equipment and was given faulty gear and had an accident I would understand.
The claim mentality britain has is driving up insurance premiums and ruining businesses.

 

[bripl]

ever thought of joining the diplomatic corp pv man?

 

[kevplumb]

if the water was at mains pressure the amount of leakage on slackening the fitting surely should give you a clue

 

[brumylad]

Why not speak to your local HS officer in confidence in order to get some advice. Definitely speak with a union rep. Armed with this, approach your company and reach an agreement, you have been injured at work. If you suffer long term disability you should be compensated. Your company will be insured against this type of loss, next time they might give their employee a day off for some appropriate training.

 

[breezer]

each person is thier own health and saftey officer, if you think a job is unsafe then you should not do it.

but as this is a diy forum, we can only give opinions, i should suggest you get legal advice, your union may help

 

[ratonnastick]

hi. its an accident as a direct result from your work. as previously stated seek legal advice i.e. accident claims company, your employer is insured for this and you should in the real world not have any come back from the employer.

 

[kevplumb]

in the real world

 

[Slugbabydotcom]

# 1 Priority - - Make sure you get it in the accident book!!

Get yer claim in and see what happens.

Some of it could be down to what you can prove. I aint Judge nor jury but your case is that you were following instructions from a supervisor who after you asked his advice has a duty of care to give you safe instructions. Perhaps he should have been there supervising!

reduce the pressure sufficiently

Thats a bit ambiguous. I can see that instruction being the crux of your possible claim

Dont worry about repercussions at work. If you don't have a case they wont take it on. Ring the union ASAP.

 

[namsag]

Slug this is 3 years old.
But reminds me of when i nearly lost the crown jewels , customer phones me for no heat, boiler stat up full and been on all day so absoluely roasting..
Pump gone so turn off valves and start to undo unions only for a conex elbow under it that had never been tightened jumps off and red hot water straight over them and legs fekk never moved so quick nasty blisters on legs but thankfully they escaped.

 

[Slugbabydotcom]

Just realised I must be picking these old things out of the similar topic bar. I never used to reply to old posts

 

[htgeng]

A good trick to play on an apprentice. If there is a stuck drain cock washer, tell him to open it fully and then tell him to dislodge the washer by sticking a screwdriver into it....

 

[Agile]

A good trick to play on an apprentice. If there is a stuck drain cock washer, tell him to open it fully and then tell him to dislodge the washer by sticking a screwdriver into it....

Er... what other way is there to get it working again?

Interesting old topic that. I went to something similar recently. The council "plumber" had turned off the isolating valves, breaking one and seising another.

The owner wanted me to repair the rad valve leak and turn on sufficiently to give him hot water.

I did what he wanted and charged about £30 less than I had estimated on the telephone but he would still not pay the full amount and gave me £10 less.

I was to return to replace the faulty valves for a very small extra amount but unfortunately for him his refusal to pay the initial bill in full means I will not be going!

Tony