Legal Issues in Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders: A European Perspective from the U.K.

A report by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (2000) is presented in this chapter. This report highlighted that six of the fifteen member states of the European Union use legal proceedings as a means of compensating employees for musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), in particular upper limb disorders. The United Kingdom (U.K.) is the member state in which legislation is most frequently used. In the U.K., claims for damages are based on the tort of negligence or on breach of statutory duty. The definition of negligence is set out in the judgment of Alderson B in Blyth v Bermingham Water Works Company (1856): “Negligence is the omission to do something which a reasonable man, guided upon those considerations which ordinarily regulate the conduct of human affairs, would do, or doing something which a prudent and reasonable man would not do.” In order to succeed in a legal action, the claimant must show that: (1) he has been injured; (2) the injury was a direct consequence of risks to which he had been exposed to in the course of his work; and (3) the employer was in breach of his duty of care, that is, the claimant must prove that the risk to which hew was exposed was reasonably foreseeable and that it would have been reasonably practicable to circumvent the risk. In order to succeed on a breach of statutory duty, the claimant must prove the: (1) he belongs to the class of persons the statue is designed to protect; (2 the defendant was the person on whom the duty was imposes; (2) the defendant was in breach of the duty; and (4) the breach caused the damage. The remainder of the chapter provides a description of the legal issues concerning the torts of negligence and breach of statutory duty in relation to the claims for musculoskeletal disorder compensation. These legal issues are exemplified through case law concerning work-related musculoskeletal disorders affecting the back and upper limbs. Finally, the criteria that need to be addressed in a legal action are provided as a checklist for use by ergonomists and other professionals involved in litigation.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0415288703
• Corporate Authors:

  CRC Press

  6000 Broken Sound Parkway, NW, Suite 300
  Boca Raton, FL  United States  33487
• Authors:
  • Kelly, Vincent
  • Devereux, Jason
• Publication Date: 2005

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: References;
• Pagination: 21p
• Monograph Title: Handbook of Human Factors in Litigation

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Cognitive impairment; Court decisions; Courts; Human factors; Human factors engineering; Industrial accidents; Injuries; Injury causes; Injury severity; Legal action; Musculoskeletal system; Tort liability; Workplaces
• Geographic Terms: Europe; United Kingdom
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Law; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01033561
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0415288703
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 29 2006 10:37AM