Learning Support Assistant’s Manual Handling Claim Rejected

Three Court of Appeal judges have rejected a claim made by a learning support assistant’s damages claim for injuries she said she sustained whilst pushing a pupil around in a wheelchair at a mainstream high school in West Yorkshire.

Helen Sloan’s original claim against the governor’s of Rastrick High School in Brighouse was rejected firstly by a judge in Leeds. Two further judges agreed with this decision when they saw the evidence that reasonable adjustments had been made within the school for Mrs Sloan following her first injury in September 2008. Mrs Sloan had also attended a number of pertinent training sessions when she was first employed by the school as well as shadowing another learning support assistant for three days before being expected to work on her own.

Mrs Sloan’s case was that she had suffered a soft tissue injury in her cervical spine and in her right, dominant shoulder, as a direct consequence of pushing one or more wheelchair-bound students around the school grounds. This injury resulted in chronic pain in her shoulder and back.

The judges rejected all 18 grounds for appeal made by Mrs Sloan and her legal representation.

This case does seem to illustrate the point well that effective training, staff supervision and appropriate risk assessments will protect employees from injury and ill-health as a result of their work activity but will also protect employers from unfair claims made by employees.

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