Employee with knee troubles

[StBalor]

I have an employee that has a knee problem. He complains very little of it, but by end of day i see him taking little breaks and always working his knee back and forth. He is a good worker and i understand the need to take a minute break and rest his knee a bit. We have tried putting him on a velke but he is tall and has to ride the velke with his knees bent. Which he says hurts more.
I was planning on buying a zturn rider or Stander next month. My question is, Which would be better for him to use? I was thinking the rider, but also he would not have to do as much walking with the stander either.
Also i hate to buy one for his specific needs as he is an employee and you never know how long an employee will stick around in this business.

[kaferhaus]

Did he have this problem when he came to work for you?

Did you have him fill out a medical questionaire?

Or did this injury happen while working for you?

I understand that he's a good employee, however if this happened on the job he should have been sent to a doctor who then would have notified you of whatever limitations his knee would have on his ability to perform his job. If this is the case (on the job injury) and you didn't do the above it can be a serious problem for you down the road. There should have been an injury report, yada yada yada.

If this was a prior injury or ailment, did he disclose it? Does your job description state that he needs to be able to stand, bend, stoop, squat, lift and carry heavy items throughout the day? And that if he's unable to perform any of these repetitive tasks he should indicate so on the form?

Now, off of the mundane stuff. If he has a knee problem, standing is going to cause inflamation or at the least aggravate it. I'd be hard pressed to buy another ZTR to accomodate him UNLESS I was absolutly sure the injury happened while working for me.

You're also correct in the feeling that what if you do spend this money to accomodate him and he quits next week or next month...

This entire scenario opens a huge can of worms... if it was an on the job injury and he goes on workers comp.... the doctor can then release him to "light duty" which means you have to accomodate him within the limits the DR. puts him on... which could be, no lifting, bending stooping, squating or standing for more than a few minutes at a time....

I've had at least one employee in the past hurt himself (back) on his day off, come to work on Monday and within an hour reports a back injury..... The other guys on his crew then tell me he had trouble getting out of his car that morning, was walking very slowly and stiffly from the moment he got out of his car so much so that one of them asked him what was wrong. He told them "nothing man, I'm just tired. I didn't ge much sleep last night" He denied the reports of him having these problems when he arrived at work.

A WC investigator found out (months later unfortunately) that the guy had gotten hurt falling off of a ATV and had gone to the emergency room...

He was charged with insurance fraud (got probation, wow), but it did nothing for us and I was out thousands of dollars as my premiums went up.

So be careful....

We now require pre-employment physicals along with drug testing and background checks. The whole program costs us $125 per new hire and I consider it cheap insurance.

I also use it as a sales tool so customers know that we're not hiring just anybody off the streets and bringing them onto their property. And some of our commercial accounts that are inside DHS controlled areas (port facilities, airports etc.) require that employees on those jobs go through their background check (FBI).

[StBalor]

This was an injury he had before coming to work for me. He let me know ahead of time of his condition. He also goes to physical therapy for the knee injury every other saturday.
Like i said he is a good worker and i was just thinking of how to make it a little easier on him.

[Runner]

You need to get documentation of this. It doesn't matter how long he has worked for you, if it was a pre-existing condition, it needs to be documented...regardless of what was said verbally. You can do this, and it is completely legal. If he has a condition that is impeding his work performance, you can ask that he gets it checked out and brings in a slip from his physician stating it is ok to work on. I realize he has already had it checked out and such, as he is receiving therapy for it,...but YOU ned documentation! this is not just for future reference, but for present time, especially. If he injures himself worse or further while on the job, and you were aware of this condition without giving advisory, you can be held accountable to a certain capacity.

[MV Property Care]

Ask him if he knows specifically what is wrong with the knee. Is the Cartilage torn and catching when he bends his knee. Did he have the cartilage removed and now it's bone against bone. Did he ever get it looked at. MRI or EX RAY. I have a bad knee and I live with it. Not much that can be done until I get old enough for a knee replacement. He sounds like a worker so he's probably not going to pull the Workers Comp settlement crap. As far as I am concerned, almost everybody over 40 has some type of pr existing condition.

[kaferhaus]

almost everybody over 40 has some type of pr existing condition

Isn't that the damn truth! I'm living proof of that, bad knees, bad back and my brain is slowly disolving....! :laugh:

[THEoneandonlyLawnRanger]

1. If the walkbehind has pistol grips have you tried to adjust them to make it higher for a taller operator ?

2. If I were planning on buying a new piece of equipment, I would look at it in the long run..As in what will best fit the needs of your business In the future if your employee decides to leave. So whoever takes his place will be able to jump in and be just as productive if not more than him. So if you think you might "Need" a ztr get one, or if you are doing smaller properties a stander with a seat perhaps? Just my thoughts.

[cod8825]

Slowly dissolving brain that is from having drank one too many brewskies! JK