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If they have called you for an interview and you know or suspect, gross negligence and immediate dismissal is on the cards, you need to be prepared.

Think about having an advocate, who will take notes, either a union rep or a work colleague or the local vicor it does not matter but a good record of the events at the meeting will be important.

You will need to stake your case and get it on record. Produce evidence to support.
They may well fire you anyway but this is all in prep to help with a case for constuctive dismissal.

I must admit i would have thought it was management responsibility to maintain records of the equipment calibration, especially as its a fundamental part of their trust as they say.

Scape goat me thinks but dont let it blinker you, its a process at the end of the day and if they dont follow it, they themselves can be held to account under employment law.

I dont think EAWR is particularly relevant to your situation. Its about management really.

Sounds like a client has rumbled them and made a big deal about testers not calibrated. I think we all know they can be out the day after or last for years, it really is an arbitrary number
 
I think we all know they can be out the day after or last for years, it really is an arbitrary number

... and there are plenty of variables which affect measurements anyway.
I bet if you made 2 measurements on a circuit at the same place on separate days they would be different, very possibly out of cal range from each other, especially with two different 'in calibration' instruments.

I'd be interested to see the outcome of this. I've always assumed if it's company equipment, then it's their responsibility that it is 100% functional and calibrated (if necessary). Likewise, if it's your own personal gear, it's yours.



To the OP, I hope you get a positive result out of this, it seems you're being dumped on from above. :mad:
 
Invest in a pocket/micro recorder, and take that into this so-called disciplinary hearing. It will record everything that anyone says at that hearing. I have been using one at every official site/project meeting for several years now. They can't then deny anything that they have said or told you at a later date... You can get a fairly decent one for around 30+ notes, that will record for an hour to 90 minutes....
 
In my opinion, its not your responibility (unless stated in your employment contract) to ensure calibration of test equipment. Your workplace should have systems and procedures in place to ensure that all equipment is calibrated! (What would HSE do if there was a incedent!-Look at systems and procedures for a start)

If you knew the gear you were using was out of date, you should have put your foot down, stopped work and kick up a fuss with your line manager-

I`m in charge of all calibrations and internal checks of our gear, I have a system in place which automatically reminds me 2 weeks in advance when a particular item is expiring. There is no way i would expect our guys in the field to be held responsible for this. (Although i do ask them to report defects e.t.c so the item can be removed from service).

Good luck
 
Agreed!!

Who else is down the road probably doing it this way so they don't pay you holiday pay etc for ttime served

Thats one of the ways to go about this. You need the records of any similar cases and see how they were dealt with. I'ts your right.

They must have followed their disciplinary procedures or you are being discriminated against ; and has been said leading to constructive
dismissal. If the facts are as you have related them they do not have a chance at a tribunal.

You must get yourself "a friend "or some clued up representative or they will initially make mincemeat out of you. Don't let them away with it. A lot of good advice has been given to you on the forum, try and use it to your advantage, and as Alarm man has said postpone the meeting on the grounds you are not prepared and that you will need employment disciplinary records etc.
 
There's only one issue I see here that could still put you in the firing line...

You knowingly took faulty/non calibrated equipment into the field.

Coming from a construction background I know only too well that people will pressure others to get the job done.

I used to be a telescopic forklift operator and part of my job was to ensure before starting work that the vehicle was "Fit to bring into service". The amount of times I refused to take the vehicle onto site was crazy but the BB site was Health & Safety bonkers so I played them at their own game. Slightest sign of any hydraulic fluid - OUT OF SERVICE, please find me something else to do whilst awaiting technician.

Another example was when I worked for an Agency, got sent to site, inspected vehicle and found a massive hydraulic leak. Explained the situation to the site manager who dismissed it and said supply my builders ha ha Don't think so mate, this machine is not fit to bring into service.

Had I have done as instructed "I" would be the one to blame if an incident occurred.

The beauty here is NO harm has been done but having said that I imagine the company in question will have to arrange retests to be done at their own expense.

The fact that all testers have been requested to provide calibration certs shows that there is no maintenance record being kept which I am sure Health & Safety require?

I think the Dictaphone thingy is a great idea for Thursday, if they see that laying on the table at the start of the meeting you may well find that the whole thing gets rearranged.

I sincerely wish you all the best and I hope that you come away laughing:thumbsup
 
Have you been called in for an interview on Thurday, to investigate the cicumstances surrounding this incident.?

Or have you formally been notified of a disciplinary hearing on Thursday.?

If it was going to be serious misconduct /instant dismissal, you'd have been gone already.

Unfair dismissal is very difficult to prove and succeed at.
 
On a cautionary note if you do record any of the meeting it may be wise to inform them upfront as it can sometimes be difficult to use as evidence in a court of law if done secretly, its a kinda of 'means to justify the end result' argument and this will be a battle of their lawyers against yours with no guarantee you vital bit of evidence will be admissable. In telling them of your intent to record the conversation i would then put forward all the questions etc that has been highlighted by this thread, with them knowing it could be used against them it may be the case that this totally dilutes the situe' with positive outcomes... if not you may have the evidence you need to back your case.
 
constructive dismissal

Just as a point of clarification, we are referring to "unfair dismissal" if they were to dismiss him. Constructive dismissal is where the actions of the employer force the employee to leave the employment. It is extremely difficult to prove, but once proven can lead to a subsequent claim for unfair dismissal.
 
I think PUWER is more relavent to you. Check out the HSE view on it ie the employer has a duty to provide equipment that is Safe to use, inspected and maintained. Hope this helps and good luck
 
It looks like your senior manager has suspended you and your line manager as he needs to investigate what went wrong because the company has broken all the rules and no doubt he is raging but that is no excuse to have a go at you. If you have all the documents showing you tried to get this sorted then you are in the clear but one word of caution that does not look good for you the week before the calibration ran out you should have highlighted this in writing to your line manager and on the day it ran out then again you should have informed him you could not go to another job until this was resolved. Now in saying all of this did your line manager tell or write to you to keep testing past the date ?

To me it looks like the senior manager has a good excuse to jump down hard on everybody within the firm telling everybody you do not test with a out of date tester full stop. Worse can happen is your line manager will get fired and you could get a written warning on your behaviour you may think thats not fair but the senior manager needs to be seen to be jumping on this not just for the company but incase he gets audited . What could happen is he could write to the customers concerned saying there was a technical problem and that the tests will have to be done free of charge

Also just to add he may think that although you did inform your line manager he may think you were flipant with regards to "A well I told him its his problem" attitude
 
Senior Managers are generally very good at passing the buck, done it myself a few times too. But never at the expense of another's livelihood. Senior Managers get paid the big bucks to oversee the various departments they are responsible for. Not for just delegating and forgetting. If this is an electrical contract testing company, he is at fault, just as much as his subordinates, some would say more so!!! He is ultimately responsible for the policies and the working adherence to those policies that this company works too.

Seems to me, like there is very little meaningful communication within the administration of this company, ...in any direction!!

Having said all that, this is beginning to sound more like an underhanded way of shedding some staff during hard times.
 
they have produced a document which outlines my responsibilities and says im responsible for testing this document required a signaiture from employee and manager i have never seen it before and didnt sighn such a document

That's them screwed then! If you have never signed a document to acknowledge calibration responsibility then play dumb. You didn't know, how could you know?

But make sure you take someone with you!!! And not some snot nosed friend, someone who's been around the block, knows the score, and won't back down in a fight.

A union won't help you now, once an action has started its to late for them to act on your behalf, there is usually a three month period, you're only chance would be to delay for three months, but that's not going to happen.

I've sat in on quite a few of these, I don't think they could call this a sacking offence, they may go for a pay reduction period though.
 
they have produced a document which outlines my responsibilities and says im responsible for testing this document required a signaiture from employee and manager i have never seen it before and didnt sighn such a document

That's them screwed then!
If you have never signed a document to acknowledge calibration responsibility then play dumb. You didn't know, how could you know?

But make sure you take someone with you!!! And not some snot nosed friend, someone who's been around the block, knows the score, and won't back down in a fight.

A union won't help you now, once an action has started its to late for them to act on your behalf, there is usually a three month period, you're only chance would be to delay for three months, but that's not going to happen.

I've sat in on quite a few of these, I don't think they could call this a sacking offence, they may go for a pay reduction period though.


Not really as I have recieved documents from companies I have worked for (and others as well) outlining contract changes etc with a covering letter you have to sign the form either accepting or not accepting them, in the covering letter it stated that if you do not return the signed form by a certain date then it is deemed you accept them.

To cover themselves from you saying you never received the documents in the first place the normally send out 1 or 2 reminder letters.
 
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