You may think it is an obvious thing to state, but it is the right of all employees and members of the public to be provided with proper and suitable seating. Although this need is usually catered for, there are several cases where employees and members of the public have been severely and fatally injured, causing not only pain but often embarrassment.
A particularly tragic incident involving seating is the case of an eight-year-old boy who died after being caught in his grandmother’s electric reclining chair. As reported by the BBC, the boy’s mother left the room for a few moments and upon her return “she found Lee trapped face down in the workings of the chair. Firefighters tried to dismantle the chair and free the boy, but he had stopped breathing by the time he was cut out”
The most bizarre case I have come across was under the headline ‘Toilet trouble: Six people injured and one dead after falling off faulty raised toilet seats‘ in the Daily Mail. After reading further, the article described how a toilet seat cover had slipped and caused the individuals to fall off the seat and injure themselves causing head and neck injuries. A spokesman for The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MRHA) said, ‘Tragically following one of these incidents a woman died, although it is not clear how much the fall contributed to her death.’
Defective chairs, chairs placed on slippery floors and chairs not suitable for their purpose are all been reasons causing injury to employees. The Workplace Regulations of 1992 require that: seating provided for any person must be suitable for that person. Suitable and necessary are probably to be understood in terms of health and safety. Since 17 September 2002 the duty is extended to seating provided in restrooms. If a chair breaks the claim can be brought under the absolute duty in the Equipment Regulations.
When these regulations are not adhered to, and the basic provision of suitable seating is not supplied at a workplace then work injury claims are an expected consequence.