WRULD Claims heard in Courts in England, Scotland and Wales

Hearing(s) - Hadoulis - v - Trinatours Ltd

Date	Court	Claimant(s)	Task	Injury	Judgment for
1 Oct 2002	Central London County	Hadoulis	DSE use: administrative tasks	Fibromyalgia	Defendant

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Claim by an employee ('C') for damages for personal injury, in the form of work-related upper limb disorder and fibromyalgia, allegedly caused by her employer ('D'), a travel agency. C's claim was brought in negligence and under the Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 SI 1992/2792 and Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 SI 1992/3004. C worked for D from 1995 as a booking clerk. C's work involved the use of one or more computers. C started to complain of back pain in March 1998 and was later diagnosed as suffering from a work-related upper limb disorder. C alleged that her injuries were caused by, inter alia: (i) her excessive workload; (ii) a lack of health and safety training and information in relation to her work and workstation; (iii) too few breaks from her workstation; (iv) D's failure to assess her workload and workstation; (v) an unsafe workstation; and (vi) provision by D of an uncomfortable and unsuitable chair.

HELD: (1) D was in breach of the Display Screen Equipment Regulations in failing: (a) to carry on assessments of C's workstations as required by reg.2; and (b) to give C appropriate health and safety training and information as required by regs.6 and 7. (2) C had failed on the evidence to establish any other breaches of the Regulations or any breach of any common-law duty of care. (3) The burden of proof was on C to prove causation. It could not be said that, had the breaches not occurred, C's problems would not have existed or would have been negligible. C had failed to establish that D's breaches had caused her injury.

Claim dismissed.

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Last updated: 16/10/2009