27 replies to this topic

[The Matt]

What would you do?

Last October, a guy turned up at the place I used to work. He was doing a demo on a new laser scanner the boss wanted. He was 2 hours late, very rushed, very incompetent.

He set up the scanner, donned his safety glasses and started talking to us (my boss and I).

Immediately, my boss asked "Ummm, won't we need safety glasses too?".

Demo guy's response "No, these are eye-safe. I am just being over-cautious because I work close to the scanners all day."

Boss "Well that's ok, as it'd alarm our customers if we turned up and had to wear and hand out PPE in their workshops and hangars."

Demo guy then stands with his back to the laser scanner, drawing our conversation/gaze toward him. He didn't tell us he'd started the scanner running either. He talked about how he would scan the demo at the highest power/resolution.

So...fast forward 1 hour. I'm driving home. Both eyes aching. Left eye feels like I've been looking at the sun too long (white dots even with eyelid closed).

Next day, right eye ok, left eye is like looking through net curtains.

Day 3, go to optician. They check me over. No sign of retinal damage, no sign of any eye health issues. Refer me to opthalmologist.

In the meantime, the boss has emailed demo guy, explaining that he seems to have hurt our eyes. His response "our technical department say that the scanners are eye safe, as long as you're more than 10m away. Unless it's on its highest resolution. Then the eye safe distance is higher." My bosses response "Rob, may I remind you that you scanned at the highest resolution, and that Matt and I were only 2m away."

Demo guy's response "Oh ok. Sorry about thar. by the way, a you interested in purchasing the scanner?"

So yesterday (11.5 months later), I finally get to go to my referral appointment. By now, the residual damage is a small bean-shaped black/brown mark. It's just out of the centre of my vision in my left eye. Imagine looking at your PC screen. As you read each word, there's something about the same size as a fly on your screen, just to the right. That's the level of distraction I'm getting, all day, every day.

Opthalmologist says they can't see any actual retina damage, but will continue to test in the future. 2.5 hours of eye drops, dilated pupils, pressure tests, dye in eyes etc yesterday showed nothing. But she has said that what I'm describing ties in with symptoms of retina damage. She has also said that there are no other eye health issues that I have whatsoever. Whatever IT is, I've got it for life.

So, what would you do?

I'm not really concerned about getting money from some compo claim. But everyone is telling I should. I've got scarred eyesight for life. It's that distracting that I don't enjoy reading at all any more. If I look up at the sky, my eye just tracks the mark and eventually I get a bit dizzy from my eye just not focusing on what I'm trying to look at.

I think I might just talk to my now ex - boss and see what he suggests. He would probably be keen to see me compensated for it. But I'm keen to make sure that aforementioned demo guy never gets to do anything like this ever again.

[matt050990]

Claim for it mate, his stupidity / negligence has caused you to lose part of your eyesight!

Not only would you get a pay out but the fact this claim was brought to the attention of his Boss's then he would get a Butt Kicking!

Plus, think of what you could get for your mini with some extra dough......

[Tamworthbay]

I hate the ambulance chasing yank style system of compensation - but this is different. This idiot has caused long term damage to you. I would be looking to get something done about it. Whether it's direct action on the guy or financial is up to you.

[Ethel]

Sounds like you'd be talking circa £10k.

 

The biggest issue will be proving liability, either against the rep, or your former employer. There's a 3 year deadline, running from the date you were able to attribute the injury to the incident. It's probably worth having a fixed fee (possibly free) consultation with a proper lawyer, not a no win no fee merchant.

[The Matt]

Yeah, it's insanely incompetent on his part.

There's a good email trail. Including one where he says they've reviewed their H&S policies to ensure that they brief demo clients about eye safety and issue glasses.

The best thing is that when you set the scanner up, it tells you what the eye safety distance is. At the resolution he used on the day he scanned me, it's 20M+. It tells you on the setup screen, before you press go! You can measure my distance from the scanner too (I think it was around 1.8M to my left). You can clearly see on the 3D model that my face was scanned too. My ex boss hopefully still has that!

[The Matt]

Gah. I'm getting wound up about it now. I will wait until after my next appointment at the opthalmologist doodah in 8 weeks to see if there's any evidence they can provide.

[danm]

Claim.

This this isn't America, agreed, and that style is pathetic. But this also isn't a cup of coffee that is too hot; or you broke the toilet seat and got laughed at because you are a fat tard. This is actual physical damage that you did not cause.

 

You say you don't want to chase up, but after less than a year you have problems. In three years, if it gets worse and you didn't chase up, end up blind in one eye, you will regret not fighting it.

[Carlos W]

The user was incompetent, his company put you at risk and has caused long term damage to your sight. It really needs referred to the HSE

[The Matt]

....or you broke the toilet seat and got laughed at because you are a fat tard.

Well, not in THIS instance

[danm]

 

....or you broke the toilet seat and got laughed at because you are a fat tard.

Well, not in THIS instance

 

 

Hey, maybe in 5 years your eye could be the cause of spilling coffee and walking into the toilet seat, resulting in you falsely getting labelled a greedy fat tard.

 

Think American: Think potential triple sue factor! 

[Miniminx71]

Before dashing off to claim, the problem you have is a lack of medical evidence to back up your injury and, currently, it doesn't look as though the specialists have found it yet. 

 

Your efforts at the moment should be concentrated on getting a medical diagnosis AND a long-term prognosis. It's there - you just haven't been seen by the someone capable of spotting it yet, so I think some serious pestering of the NHS may be in order. Alternatively, I personally would pay a couple of hundred and get a quick but thorough private consultation (you can claim that back in damages).

 

So, go careful to begin with and gather some strong evidence before going anywhere near the company threatening to sue. You have 3 years so plenty of time. Get as much as you can remember down on paper and any other evidence as well. Be as concise as possible: remember the onus will be on them having to defend themselves, so the more they have to refute/counter-argue, the harder it is for them.

[Ethel]

I'd disagree to a degree 

 

The longer you leave it, the harder it will be to attribute the injury to any specific cause. Though you also don't want to be rushed into a quick "no win no fee" settlement by a solicitor who has the conflicting interest of securing their fee in a timely fashion.

 

Certainly set about gathering all the supporting evidence. A partial scan of your face sounds to amount to a smoking gun.

 

The burden of proof is always with the claimant, but it's not as high a standard as for a criminal court.

[The Matt]

They knew within a few days that I was complaining of damage, there's an email chain to prove that.  They also apologised and changed their H&S policy after the incident had happened.  Though that's not accepting liability, as such, it does go a way to providing a timeline.

 

I'm disappointed that I've just accepted it and waited for my NHS referral.  11 months for something as minor as this is ludicrous.  I have to go back for more in depth tests in 8 weeks.

 

I fail to see how I'll ever be able to prove that there's damage if they don't pick it up on a retina scan.  I refer to it as a blind spot, but it's more a mark, like looking through glass that is dirty, a bit like a windscreen with a dried muddy water drop on it.  It's not like it's blinding, it's just so flaming distracting.  I literally can't be bothered to sit and read a book any more because of it.

 

Evidence is the key here (I think) and I just can't see how it's ever going to be worth pursuing if I don't have some form of scan/photo of my retina with a little burn mark on it?  It will only ever be my word that says there is damage there.  But then I guess that's the same for if it was psychological damage. There are probably ways they can test that I'm consistently complaining of the 'mark' being in the same place?

[The Matt]

 

Certainly set about gathering all the supporting evidence. A partial scan of your face sounds to amount to a smoking gun.

 

Even if it wasn't a personal injury, the 3D model of the laser scan shows they were negligent at least.  Two faces, neither wearing glasses.

 

I think it's more about proving his complete and utter incompetence than about getting some form of compensation, to be honest.  I'm not bothered about getting money for it.  I just want him and the firm he works for that he should never, every be allowed to work in this field again!

[Badboytunes]

Id say persue a claim, they were neglegent, you have nothng to lose...