NHS Trust were in Breach of Manual Handling Regulations
The Court of Appeal held that an NHS Trust was in breach of Regulation 4(1)(b)(ii) of the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 for failing to take reasonably practicable steps to reduce the risk of injury to a nurse whilst engaged in transferring a patient into a bath using a mobile hoist. It was held that Regulation 4(1)(b)(ii) is separate and additional to the requirement to carry out a risk assessment. In the present case, the judge had erred by finding that a risk assessment would have made no difference rather than considering the sub-section separately. Once it was established that the operation contained some risk of injury, the legal burden should then pass to the Defendant to plead that it had taken such steps as were sufficient in all the circumstances. If the Defendant pleaded that no such steps existed, the evidential (but not legal) burden would pass to the Claimant to make suggestions.
