A petite checkout worker has received a payout from her employer after sustaining an arm injury while trying to reach for the chip and pin machine.
Jill Hyndman, 4ft 9ins, developed a repetitive strain injury in her right arm after constantly stretching to reach for the card machine at her till while working at the Co-op.
The readers had been installed since 2005, but no measures had been taken to ensure all workers could comfortably reach them. When Hyndman complained, the Co-op refused to alter the tills at the store in Cinderford, Gloucestershire.
According to the Sun, Forest of Dean District Council found the machines were 23.5cm further away than health and safety rules allowed – putting them out of comfortable reach for 95% of women.
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Hyndman’s solicitor, Julie Roberts, said: “It proves workers don’t have to suffer in silence.”
The Co-op denied liability, but agreed to pay a “significant financial settlement”.
