Yahoo Finance Ocado ‘forced out worker who raised fire safety issues’
Ocado has been ordered to pay a former employee £20,000 in damages after he raised concerns about fire safety in one of its warehouses.
The grocery giant is facing allegations that its managers forced out an employee after he warned cardboard materials and pallets were blocking access to fire extinguishers and fire exits in one of its sites.
Court documents have revealed claims that managers were alerted to other safety issues by the technician who says he was then subjected to a “witch hunt” for highlighting the problems.
Ocado has said it is asking for the claim to be reconsidered on the basis that it did not receive any paperwork related to the case.
The judgement comes after a string of fires broke out at Ocado warehouses and depots, costing the company tens of millions of pounds in lost sales.
Thomas Cooley, a former Ocado employee, told an employment tribunal that a manager asked him to clean under a lift even though it had not been disconnected from the power supply.
The judgement stated: “He said the lift was very heavy and if it fell, whilst someone was cleaning underneath, it would cause injury.
“The claimant was told ‘not to throw his toys out the pram’ and to carry out the cleaning in any event, despite the fact he was not trained to do so.
“The claimant remained concerned about this, so he asked to speak to Wayne who was the manager of the site. He was told that Wayne would not wish to speak to him.”
Mr Cooley said he then raised issues about the safety switch on a conveyor belt being blocked by a cable tie to stop it from working. He said he reported this issue on a number of occasions.
He said he was then given cleaning jobs after raising the issues, and received abusive messages on the company radio system that could be heard by other staff members. He said he received these messages between July and Oct 2020.
The judgement said: “As a result of this the claimant’s mental health deteriorated, he suffered anxiety, nightmares and dreaded going to work. Ultimately, he had suicidal thoughts. He resigned his position due to his mental health and underwent counselling and took medication to assist him.”
The judge ruled the employee’s resignation amounted to constructive dismissal and that he was pushed out for making protected disclosures. Ocado has been ordered to make Mr Cooley a payment of £20,000. The judge said managers ignored Mr Cooley and decided he was a “complainer”.
The judgement stated Ocado was sent the claim on Jan 12 and a further letter was sent on March 18. Ocado did not file a response to the claim or appear at the tribunal hearing to defend itself.
A spokesman for Ocado said: “We did not receive notification of this claim at the time. As such, we are currently investigating and have applied for reconsideration. We await this decision and will not be commenting any further at this stage.”
Ocado’s flagship robotic grocery warehouse in Andover was all but razed to the ground in February 2019 after a fire broke out that took more than 24 hours to bring under control. Another fire broke out later that year in a container for waste packaging, and in July last year, a blaze took hold at Ocado’s depot in Erith, south-east London.
Elizabeth Gardiner, chief executive of the charity Protect, said employers should treat whistleblowers as “the eyes and ears of the organisation”.
She said: “Employers can’t understand the risks that their organisation faces if their workers aren’t telling them, so a culture where staff are able to speak up safely is vital.
“Good employers should see whistleblowers as loyal members of staff bringing information to light that helps the organisation pursue its ethical purpose. Yet too often rather than thanking a whistleblower for bringing a risk to the attention of managers, whistleblowers are victimised instead.”
