Margaret Hughes v Grampian Country Food Group Ltd
[2007] CSIH 32
We represented the defenders in this case in which the Appeal Court in the Court of Session handed down its judgement on 18 May 2007. Albeit the case concerned the rather unusual and unenviable task of trussing the wings and legs of chickens with elastic bands, the judgement is significant in determining the scope of the term "manual handling operations" (MHO) within the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992. The Regulations define an MHO as "any transporting or supporting of a load (including lifting, putting down, pushing, pulling, carrying or moving thereof) by hand or bodily force".
When the case was originally heard before Lord Menzies, he found that Mrs Hughes' condition of carpal tunnel syndrome had been exacerbated by the actual task of trussing. The Court heard evidence that she required to remove the chicken from a shackle, put it onto her work bench, truss it and then place it onto a conveyor belt. Lord Menzies held that the trussing task was not an MHO as it would be "straining the ordinary language to describe this manipulation as the transporting or supporting of a load" and found in favour of the defenders.