Although over recent years the number of work related injuries has been decreasing slowly, currently over two million people are suffering from some form of work related injury which is a staggeringly high percentage of the working population. In many cases the cause of the accident is due to an omission or act of negligence on the part of the employer such as requesting the employee to carry out a task for which he was not properly trained, using dangerous or unguarded machinery, poor environmental control, failure to adhere so COSH regulations, in fact there is a myriad of possibilities. |
One frequent form of accident at work that is often ignored is repetitive strain injury or RSI. This is an injury, which results in both musculoskeletal and neurological damage. It results in pain and weakness in the affected parts of the body. In 2008 a study was carried out on RSI in the workplace, and it showed that a staggering 68% of employees in the UK suffer at least to some extent some form or other of RSI.
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People most prone to RSI are unsurprisingly those who must continually repeat a task that places stress on specific parts of the body; for instance somebody who uses a computer mouse continually can suffer from RSI of the writs, or someone who works on an industrial machine on a regular basis can suffer specific RSI. The condition can be extremely painful and disabling; it can also be very difficult to treat; in many cases it is intractable.
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In a recent case, a young woman who had been a machinist in a factory for ten years working on the same machine to produce bags developed tenosynovitis in her right wrist. Tenosynovitis is a flare up of the sheath that surrounds a tendon. It is very painful and needs careful treatment often involving a combination of steroid injections and physiotherapy.
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Initially the young woman had to take time off work but after returning she was again put on the same task and no allowance was made for her injury. Before long her work exacerbated the tenosynovitis until eventually she was unable to perform her duties and as a result she was sacked.
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| Fortunately she got in contact with Irwin Mitchell, the well-known personal injury lawyers. They were able to arrange consultations with consultants specialising in rheumatology and ergonomics. A compensation claim was made to the firm for which she had worked but they vacillated regarding liability, first accepting it then denying it. Eventually the case was settled out of court and the young lady was duly compensated. |
