On Mon 12 Jun, Stewart Lloyd wrote:
> Diana Kloss has quite a few words to say on the subject in her book. My
> understanding  is that volente non fit injuria is a defence to which courts
> do not acquiesce lightly  in industrial injury cases. 
> 
> However, more specifically, why are you asking him to sign the disclaimer
> in the first
>  place? Surely a suitable and sufficient risk assessment (as per DSE Regs)
> will identi fy the nature of the seating arrangements which will suit this
> particular operative at
>  this particular workstation. If the risk assessment says that the chair he
> currently  uses is unlikely to cause him problems (especially as it seems
> to have suited him in t he past), then why change it? Remember that the DSE
> Regs do not actually specify a "fr ee moving chair" but say it "shall be
> stable" (which seems to me to mean rather the op posite) and have an
> adjustable seat and back which, once "adjusted" to the needs of th e worker
> concerned, rarely need to be changed. If, however, the risk assessment says
> t hat the chair really really needs to be changed and the operative is
> still making a fu ss, then one could invoke Section 7 of the HSAW Act.
> 
I think the DSE regs are rather more prescriptive than this. There is a duty
to assess risks but also to 'perform a suitable and sufficient assessment of
those workstations which:...' are used by users. There is then very little
leeway in meeting all the requirements of the Schedule (at least those
relevant to the particular workstation). I doubt if you could easily claim
that a chair allowed 'easy freedom of movement' without being on wheels. How
else could you easily get exactly the right position at the keyboard?

Regards
Alf
-- 
Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, EH3 9YW, UK
tel  +44 131 536 3251  fax  +44 131 536 3283




%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%