WRULD DB-Defendant: Health & Safety Executive

Case	Date	Court	Claimant	Task	Injury	Judgment for
West - v - Health & Safety Executive	30 Jul 1998	Chester County	West	DSE use: data entry / enquiry	Tenosynovitis, Medial Epicondylitis	Defendant

Linda West claimed she had suffered Tenosynovitis in the right wrist and Medial Epicondylitis in the left elbow due to the repetitive keyboard work she performed for the Defendant between 1988 and 1993, which she alleged took up between 50% and 100% of her time. HH Judge Rogers found the Plaintiff to be a "poor historian" and "inaccurate or, at the very best, unreliable" on all material issues. HH Judge Rogers went on to find that the Plaintiff had not established, on the balance of probabilities, that she had suffered Tenosynovitis or Medial Epicondylitis and that her account of the amount of keyboard work she had to undertake was inaccurate and unreliable. HH Judge Rogers concluded that she spent no more than 20% - 30% of her time at the keyboard and, of that, only a small amount of time was actually spent typing and that there was no work of a repetitious nature which could be said to be causative of any injury. HH Judge Rogers concluded his Judgment by saying:

She did not suffer, in my judgment, any upper limb injury and, even if I am wrong about that, there was no negligence or breach of statutory duty proved to this Court that was causative of such injury. In those circumstances, the claim by the plaintiff fails and there must be judgment for the defendant.

This case clearly turned on it own facts and is of no particular consequence, other than to the parties involved, but it illustrates that even the most health and safety conscious organisation cannot eliminate the risk of an employee bringing a personal injury claim.

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Last updated: 16/10/2009