MANUAL HANDLING - 02.04.2021

Employer not liable for fractured hand

The accident

Engineering technician Stephen Needle (N) was employed by Swallowfield plc (S) to carry out maintenance and repair work. The types of activity were extremely diverse and rather than produce thousands of pages of risk assessment, the company provided N with training in dynamic risk assessment. This enabled him to risk assess individual tasks including those which involved manual handling, and take such action as necessary to control the risk. In February 2013 N was manoeuvring a disused pump weighing around 48kg. It was large, irregularly shaped and had a centre of gravity at one end, making it awkward to handle. He wasn’t lifting it, however, simply attempting to turn it over. During the process he did not crush or trap his hand, in fact he could not point to the moment when the injury happened, but he sustained a hyperextension fracture to his left hand. His recovery was hampered by “regional pain syndrome” leaving him unfit to continue his employment. He therefore brought a claim against S for compensation.

The hearing

At the original hearing N claimed that S had been negligent and that there had been a breach of the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 (MHOR) . He lost the case but won the right to have it considered for appeal at the High Court. The MHOR require employers to avoid manual handling operations which entail a risk of injury, and where that is not achievable, to carry out a risk assessment of manual handling activities. The question was whether the particular lifting activity was one which was covered by these employer duties. The judge ruled that it was not because in the particular circumstances with the specific employees involved, who were well trained, there was no foreseeable risk of injury to N’s hands or wrists.

Tip. The availability of good evidence of the training provided played a significant role in the judgment. Ensure that when training is given, your records show the date, who delivered it, who attended, the contents and the outcome of any assessment of learning undertaken by delegates.

The appeal

At the appeal hearing N challenged the finding that there was no foreseeable risk of personal injury and that it had been wrong to take into account training and experience. These grounds were overruled and N lost his case.

Warning. In most cases manual manoeuvring of a heavy item as large as this one would bring it within the MHOR and the judge found that had it been carried out by less experienced staff a written manual handling assessment would be required.

Tip. When creating manual handling assessments, group together similar activities to reduce the amount of paperwork involved (see The next step ). There’s a careful balance to be had so that the tasks are still examined in detail, whilst not going overboard.

For a blank lifting of loads preliminary assessment and for a lifting of loads detailed assessment, visit https://www.tips-and-advice.co.uk , Download Zone , year 19, issue 14.