My Question: Just had an electric shock at work!!?
I had been taught to remove paper jams on the fax machine by simply opening part of it, taking out the ink and pulling the paper out. It ripped and i kept trying to get it out but it was really jammed, i put my finger under where the paper was stuck, only slightly and had a massive electric shock. Would like to know if there is a law suite there, as i’m just curious. After an hour my finger is still bright red and sore and so are parts of my right hand which wasn’t the hand which i had touched it with. My hands are still tingling and feel strange and a little shaky. I know it was mainly my stupidity but someone should have taught me it was dangerous as they taught me to put my hand in that area in the first place. I also wondered what voltage it would be don’t know if it would be from the mains or different from the fax machine? It made me scream for about 5 seconds and i couldn’t let go!
I would file an accident report at your company and go to the doctor. If you do want to sue you will want a paper trail. Also it would be good to have a doctor look at you if you are still feeling it.
Unless you have lasting damage to your figure or hands I don’t think you have a case.
Ouch!
I had a similar situation at work about 18 months ago. I was working in the customer service department, helping a lady who had trouble charging a mobile phone she had purchased. I plugged the charger into the phone, found that it wasn’t working, and as I took the charger out of the socket I felt a warm buzzing feeling in my finger. It didn’t throw me back or anything and it wasn’t particularly painful, but because of the warmth I felt in my finger and the tingling sensation afterwards, I had no doubt it was a shock.
I informed a colleague that I had received a shock, who then informed the boss. He straight away sent me off to the doctor, who thankfully gave me the all-clear and said the shock will subside after an hour or so. As soon as I got back to work the boss wrote out a full incident report.
Which, it seems, makes up the difference between your experience and mine. I would fully recommend you tell somebody about the situation, get an incident report written up, and go see a doctor as soon as possible. I’d say your shock won’t leave any lasting damage – but there is the slight chance it may have affected your heart or nervous system. If it does turn out to be a serious matter and/or you would like to pursue legal action, it would help your case so much to have that incident report and a medical opinion. That way, all sides are aware of the situation, and you will be able to legally refer to the report for the exact details of what happened.
At the least, your boss should take action and inform all staff to no longer remove paper jams using that method. But he/she needs to know about it before anything is expected of them!
Good luck, and hope it doesn’t turn out to be too serious a matter.