When I was sixteen I had never heard of compensation. Suing people when you had an accident was an American thing not something that was part of our culture.
That was why when I had an accident at my first job after I left school the only thing I was thinking about keeping the blood inside me and stopping all the children being freaked out.
You see I worked in a nursery when I first left school. I was training to be a nursery nurse and starting my NVQ. I didn’t enjoy it. I mean don’t get me wrong I loved working in the nursery and I loved playing with the kids but I hated working a full week for only £50 and having to study at the same time.
The accident happened at the end of break time. I was putting all the toys back into the toy shed. One of the toys was a large basketball hoop. Unfortunately for me the light in the shed was a fluorescent strip light and it didn’t have a cover on it. I accidentally hit the light with the basketball net and the light shattered sending glass shards everywhere including into my wrist.
Trying to keep calm but with a hole the size of a one penny coin in my wrist I covered it up with my other hand and walked through the nursery, past the kids and into the staff room where a member of staff helped me with the first aid kit. There was no rushing off to hospital, no filling in an accident book and I didn’t even get the rest of the day off.It is amazing how a countries culture can change so much. Not so many years ago I was writing policies and procedures in my previous job and writing up accident reports for blisters and paper cuts! Now a days there are so many No win No fee companies who want you to report your work accidents that you can start proceedings without even being concerned about the costs. I wonder if my accident had happened just a few years ago whether I would have pursued it? and if i did, how much would I have got?