WRULD Claims heard in Courts in England, Scotland and Wales

Hearing(s) - Rich et al - v - British Telecommunications plc

Date	Court	Claimant(s)	Task	Injury	Judgment for
10 Oct 1994	Newport Isle of Wight County	Rich	DSE use: telephone switchboard	Tenosynovitis	Defendant
		Robinson	DSE use: telephone switchboard	Tenosynovitis	Defendant
		Sault	DSE use: telephone switchboard	Tenosynovitis	Defendant

In this case three night telephonists alleged they had suffered the onset of upper limb injuries between October 1988 and February 1990. All three claimed damages for Tenosynovitis. HH Judge MacKean found that two Plaintiffs had not suffered injury, while the third had suffered Tenosynovitis caused by her work but that the Defendant was not negligent. While the start of the hearing was briefly reported in The Daily Telegraph on the 20th September 1994 under the headline Phone operators sue for injuries, the Judgment in favour of the Defendant appears to have received no press coverage.

As might be expected given the date of onset of the alleged injuries, there is no reference in the Judgment to alleged breaches of the DSE Regulations. However, even though the Judgment acknowledges that the DSE Regulations did not come into effect until the 1st January 1993 and that they "were not available in 1990", the HSE's guidance on the Regulations is referred to in the Judgment as "not specific about the risk of upper limb disorders".

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Last updated: 26/03/2014