Keyboard use led to RSI and job losses

Keyboard use led to RSI and job loss

A Unite member has been awarded £30,000 in damages after developing a repetitive strain injury (RSI) from excessive use of a computer keyboard. The 31-year-old woman, whose name has not been released, suffered a strain injury to her right wrist while working as an administrator at an unnamed charity, where she would spend up to eight hours a day entering data onto a computer. Her duties included taking handwritten notes at meetings, which she would then type up onto a computer as well as setting up appointments through email. As the amount of work increased, she started working through her lunch break and for up to two hours after her shift was meant to have finished. All computers within the facility were fitted with software that monitored keyboard usage, however, staff would be told by managers to switch it off in order to get more work done. When the Unite member started to suffer from pains in her wrist she visited her doctor who confirmed she had developed a repetitive strain injury. She had to take three months off work and after this time she went back on a phased return. However, she had to take further time off because of the pain in her hands, and she was subsequently made redundant. Her injury prevents her from working full-time on a computer so she is now in academic study, which allows her to have a more flexible approach to work. Unite regional secretary Peter Kavanagh said: “The fact that the employer actively told staff to go around a programme that was created to protect them completely defeats the object of having it in the first place. As her workload increased, our member began to develop a painful injury which her employer should have taken responsibility for sooner.”

Ÿ  Thompsons Solicitors news release.