Legal News

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has agreed to pay three female RAF recruits £100,000 each in compensation, after marching in line with male recruits caused spinal and pelvic injuries to the women.

According to a report by the Mail online, the three women launched their action against the MoD five years’ ago, after alleging that having to march in step with much taller male recruits made them “over-stride” and caused repetitive strain injuries to their spines and pelvises.

The MoD contested their allegations, but eventually agreed to pay them compensation.

RAF guidelines state that female recruits should not be expected to stride in excess of 27 inches – and must also head up a mixed squad of recruits so they can set the pace.

Male recruits stride up to 30 inches in parades and while on exercise.

The three female recruits were aged 17, 22 and 23 when they underwent training at RAF Halton in Buckinghamshire – and began to suffer injury during the first nine weeks of their training schedule. One of the female recruits was just five feet four inches tall and was marching alongside men six feet tall.

The £100,000 compensation each covers nine years of missed employment and pension accruements.

The compensation sums exceed payments to some forces personnel seriously injured in conflicts such as Afghanistan. In the last year, the MoD’s total compensation fund has risen by £21 million to a total of £108.9m in the year 2012-13.

The MoD awards compensation for injuries using a scale of 1-10, with total loss of limb, paralysis or brain damage classed as a level 1 injury attracting a maximum award of £570,000.

The women’s injuries were classed as a level 7 injury, potentially leading to a decrease in life expectancy of five years.

The MoD accepted that making the women march in step with taller male recruits and making them carry the same weight of backpack had caused the injuries.

All three women have now found successful employment outside the Armed Forces.

Injury at work compensation

Employers have a legal duty to assess the risk of injury to their employees in carrying out their duties at work – and to make sure that measures are put in place to prevent injuries.

This may involve working out a method of handling heavy loads or working safely at height – or operating equipment with the correct safety guards in place to prevent employees being injured or pulled into machinery.

However, every year workers suffer injury in the workplace as a result of failings in health and safety procedures, or failure by employers to carry out safety assessments.

Compensation for injury or accidents in the workplace fall under the area of law known as personal injury – and may include injuries such as repetitive strain injuries (RSI), falls from height, illness or injury resulting from exposure to hazardous materials (eg asbestos) or catastrophic injury such as loss of limb or brain injury as a result of accident involving industrial machinery.

Duncan Lewis is one of the UK’s leading personal injury lawyers and can advise on a range of workplace accidents and injuries, as well as personal injury claims resulting from accidents on holiday or slips, trips and falls in public places.

Duncan Lewis is also one of the UK’s leading no win no fee lawyers, so for advice on making a no win no fee accident claim, contact Duncan Lewis personal injury lawyers on 020 7923 4020.