Hey ya'll!

I'm having a real tough time at work lately due to the fact that I work in a call-centre and the lights in there are giving me tremendous migraines on and off.

I've gone through everything I could think of that could trigger a migraine throught my home and personal life and I have narrowed it down to feeling tired and also the lights at work.

I have spoked to my health and safety rep at work and he has been up before to check the lighting, the first time he came up, he said the lights were above the legal limit but now he says he has looked into it and the lights are fine and is refusing to do anything!

I dont want to leave the job as I basically love working where I am, the money is good and the staff and job are brill.

I have sought advice from the health & safety dept @ Rotherham Council and they are looking into it for me.

The only problem as well is - due to migraines and bad health at work - I have had nearly 45 days off sick.. due to migraines and also other problems.. every day has been certified by a doctor who has told me point blank not to go into work until the illness has been sorted out.

I may be going to a disciplinary soon, to find out whats going on really.. so any advice please would be great, thankyou everyone!

Tell your HR department that you and your GP strongly believe that your illness has been work-related and ask them to refer you to occupational health. They have an obligation to provide you with a safe environment to work in - if something in that environment is affecting your health then THEY have to do something about it.

Cheers for the reply!

I was wondering as well also.. if they sack me for having all the time off, which I admit is excessive but neccessary for me to get well sooner, can I go down the legal route, which I think it will end up coming to, to sort the matter out.

I am already backed up with my T&G union, and my doctors have agreed to give me their backing, so I hopefully am in a good position to sort the company out legally if it comes to it.

I've tried reasoning with my company, they just dont care to be honest with you, and I think a serious kick up the arse by the health and safety inspectors may just do the trick.

ALSO: I dont know whether or not this is against the law but.

My company has a air-conditioning system installed which blows in fumes from peoples cars from the car park near to the system which we have complained about- nothing has been done, and also they have screwed the windows shut as 'they have paid a lot of money for air con and we shouldnt have to open windows in the summer!' - is this legal??

Surely its a fire hazard?

I'd go to the Citizen's Advice Bureau and get some advice on whether you can persue them through the courts if they sack you. As I said it is one of the basic obligations of employers that they must provide employees with safe systems of work - which includes the environment they work in, so it may be that you have a fairly strong case. It will also scare your employer if you say you have spoken to Citizen's Advice and they will think twice about sacking you on dubious grounds!

You may also have some protection under the Disability Discrimination Act (although this is less likely than protection under H&S legislation) but again it might be something worth talking to Citizen's Advice about. Under DDA employers have to make reasonable adjustments to the workplace to allow people to work there who otherwise would not be able to because of disability/certain medical conditions.

What sort of lights are they? Fluorescent strips? Halogen ones?

It could be the flicker rate if it's striplights - I think they come in different flicker rates. Halogens give me eyestrain too - leading to headaches and funny patterns infront of my eyes.

This may sound really silly, but you could try wearing a baseball cap for a week, or consult an optician about glasses to reduce the problem

I will give the CAB a call tmrw and see what I can do about all this mess... thanks for the advice though.

Angelus
xx

Originally posted by Strix
What sort of lights are they? Fluorescent strips? Halogen ones?

It could be the flicker rate if it's striplights - I think they come in different flicker rates. Halogens give me eyestrain too - leading to headaches and funny patterns infront of my eyes.

This may sound really silly, but you could try wearing a baseball cap for a week, or consult an optician about glasses to reduce the problem

Hey!

Yep I think they are the strip lights, I know its them causing my eyes to cock up because we have 100w light bulbs all over our house and it never causes me to have migraines at home, just at work.

I had two migraines while I was at work today with the flashing lights so I couldnt see anything- I took 1/2 day holiday today just for that alone. :(

I've thought about the cap - but work says its not practical??
But I took my shades into work today and tried them and that helped a lot- a looked a lot like a white stevie wonder, but never mind :)

See if you can get a book in the library about lighting design.

There are stipulations for the layout of strips that are often contravened in open floorplan offices once they have walls added by the end user :thumbsup:

Some tubes and diffusers are more appropriate for space that you pass through (foyer, corridor) rather than a space you sit in all day.

Make sure you take your teabreaks in natural light whenever practicable, and ensure you don't dehydrate - another problem in the modern office environment

Originally posted by ANGELUS


I've thought about the cap - but work says its not practical??


Any dress code that your employer imposes can be over ruled on grounds of religious belief / practicality; speak to your manager and see what you can sort out! :thumbsup:

K x

Well Im off work again today, I had a really bad migraine late last night and I had a mini one again this morning which has just worn off.. I really am getting fed up with this now.

So I'm off to the docs once again for advice and then I'm getting in touch with Citizens Advice to give me some help as well.

My bosses dont care about my health and wont do anything about sorting out the lighting.. so I will have to take more drastic action it seems.

It sounds like your problem is more serious than mine, but when I was at school, years ago, I used to get bad migranes from strong sunlight shining in through the window. If it was sunny when I woke up, I used to take a yellow migraleve, then a pink one later in the day if a migrane came on. I also got some glasses with a slight tint to take away some of the brightness. They just looked like normal glasses but seemed to work.
I'm sure you have probably tried this and I think you should definetly go down the route mentioned by other forumers by going to CAB etc as they can be very helpful. It seems like this situation is causing you a lot of stress, which no doubt may also be part of the cause of the migranes, so I hope you get it sorted soon.
Good luck:thumbsup:

Thanks again everyone for all your help and advice, it is very much appreciated! Thankyou xxxx

I feel as though I am not being listened to at work, which is the worst part of it all, I really do love the job I am doing but its causing me health problems which could easily be sorted out by someone coming out and dimming the lights a little.. easy to sort out eh! -- But oh no, they cant do that just on my say so, which gets my goat.. so I'll have to go down the legal route and get someone in to tell them that they are in the wrong and make them do the changes.

It really is all a bit silly to be honest and is causing me at the moment to have around £150-200 wiped off from my monthly pay which to me is a big loss every month that I could do without losing really.

you get pay docked when you're off sick, harsh.

Polarising glasses might help if you speak to your optician, they cut out the glare from sunlight, so would probably do the same for flurescents.

I know you said you want to reduce the brightness, but it might actually be the flicker of the lights (someone already mentioned the frequency of them), it might actually help if you got yourself a desk lamp, as this might mask the flicker.

And finally, sacking you would be good grounds for a tribunal which your union would support, you'd get compensation and reinstated... I doubt they'd be stupid enough to sack you though, they'll probably (if they're barstools) just make life difficult in the hope that you resign.

Cheers for that Cyclone, I will look into polarising glasses, to see if I can get them although I still feel hard done to by my company- it just annoys me that I have to be doing all this to keep working, it just does not seem worth it sometimes.

Hopefully, I'm all set if it does get nasty legally, I have doctors backing and also my union rep is ready for action, but hopefully we wont get that far :)

Originally posted by Cyclone
And finally, sacking you would be good grounds for a tribunal which your union would support, you'd get compensation and reinstated... I doubt they'd be stupid enough to sack you though, they'll probably (if they're barstools) just make life difficult in the hope that you resign.

Strictly speaking employers can terminate employees contracts on grounds of ill-health. Although for it to be fair they have to show they have done their best to support the employee and have tried everything they can to get them back to work. In your case it certainly sounds like they have done nothing of the sort. Unfair dismissal protection doesn't come in until you have a year's service, so if you have less than a year's service then they can terminate your contract fairly easily - but exceptions are made to this on grounds of discrimination (as I mentioned you may be covered by Disability Discrimination), and (i'm not sure) possibly H&S legislation is an exception as well.

And if they do make life difficult for you in the hope that you resign then make notes of what they are doing to make your job impossible. Once it gets to the point where you feel you HAVE to resign you can take them to tribunalfor constructive dismissal.

Fully agree with what has been said already but to add:

I used to get migraine with the flourescent lights above my desk at work. We had on-site electricians and I used to ask them to come up and sort it out for me (the lights were operated by one switch so couldn't be switched on or off individually). The electrician used to just twist the tube so that it didn't come on. That usually did the trick. It's not exactly a difficult thing to do and if your employer is refusing it sounds rather petty to say the least.

Your TU health and safety rep should be informed about all such problems - lighting, air-con and locking of windows - they should assess whether there are any breaches. If the H&S rep is unsure about what he/she can do they should be able to refer it higher up in the Union for more advice.

Your TU really should be the one's to help and advise you - that's what you're paying your subs for.

Put everything in writing, if you do end up at an ET you will need to provide evidence of what you have tried to do to resolve the problem. Also keep copies of any replies from your employer and make notes of meetings/discussions etc (and date them, get someone to sign the notes to confirm they are a fair and accurate representation of the meeting/discussion if at all possible).

Migraine may or may not be considered a disability under DDA, previously as a TU rep I argued the case for someone who had severe migraine and used DDA legislation to resolve the issue, but to be honest, I was stretching the point a bit and relying on the ignorance of the employer. If it is debatable whether or not you have a disability under DDA this would be the first consideration of an ET before proceeding with a case.

Obviously, the best solution is to get it sorted out before it escalates as then it becomes more difficult because both sides get entrenched in their own stand point. It all seems very petty when a solution is so easily apparant - your TU rep should be able to negotiate on your behalf to get this situation sorted out for the benefit of you and your employer asap.

Someone mentioned polarised lenses and going to the optician. I am an optical assistant so maybe I can help here! If you already wear specs, try a polarised clip on and see if it helps (much cheaper than a new pair of specs!) If you don't, pick up a pair of polarised sunspecs from the likes of Woolies and try those for a day or two - if it works, then get a good pair.

When I first trained as an optician, 25 years ago, we used to supply blue tinted specs to office PC workers to help with the glare from both PC and fluorescents. These days, an anti-reflection coating will help as well.

I worked in a hospital with a similar problem of the lights. We ended up moving our PC's around so that we did not get the lights full in our eyes and we also removed one of the strip lights, so that the light was a bit dimmer. We already had the recessed lights with daylight tubes that are recommended but it did not really work, hence removing a strip.

We also had the same problem with our windows - our aircon sucked hot air in from the laundry opposite. Temperatures rose and we claimed "heat exhaustion" until they eventually came and opened our windows. Unfortunately, it was still extremely hot and when I got kicked out they were looking into solutions.l

Also remember that employers must pay for a sight test for anyone who uses VDU equipment on a regular basis, and if the optician recommends glasses specifically to use with VDU then your employer is also obliged to cover the cost of these glasses.

The following has more details:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/lau/lacs/16-3.htm

I dont want to leave the job as I basically love working where I am, the money is good and the staff and job are brill.

[/B]


ANGELUS,

I find it strange though that you write this quoted above and describe all you problems at work and in another thread (sorry I'm new and don't know how to quote a thread) titled "Someone please save me from my boring life!" you write this:

I'm in the market for a new job at the moment and I am open to anything and everything as I would like a change from what I am currently doing now. 3/8/05

Unless there are two ANGELUS-s up on the forum of course...

My posting in the jobs section was to find another job in case the one I'm in becomes too much of a health problem for me or in case they try and force me out of the company.

I do love the job I'm in now and I really get on well with the people in my team.. its just the health side of it now which has made me think about moving on, even though I should not really have to move on as its not my fault about the lights.

Thats why I posted in the jobs section though.
:)

Well I've been to the docs again today, and have been signed off for another week while I try another round of medication.

I'm starting to sound like a pill bottle when I walk now :)

Although my doc has also said that he will back me up again 100% if it comes to a tribunal or any other disciplinary hearing which is good to know.