The family of a Heathrow baggage handler, who suffered brain damage after her scarf became caught in machinery and dragged along a conveyor belt, is taking legal action against her employers.
Jasbir Sahota, who has worked at the airport for 30 years, was seriously injured after the accident on February 14.
The 52-year-old was unloading luggage from a Loganair flight arriving into the capital from Dundee when the item of clothing got caught in the machine.
The incident caused disabling injuries, as well as brain damage, requiring Ms Sahota to require specialist care.
Now her family is demanding that her employer, Menzies, a global aviation services company, pay for her transfer from Hillingdon Hospital to Wellington Hospital, a private facility that provides the complex care Mrs Sahota requires.
Jasbir Sahota (pictured), who has worked at the airport for 30 years, was seriously injured following an accident on a conveyor belt at Heathrow on 14 February.
Her family is now taking legal action against her employers Menzies (pictured: her two children, Nina Haer and Harman Sahota, along with her brother-in-law Satti Heir).
His two children, Nina Haer and Harman Sahota, along with his brother-in-law Satti, said The Telegraph that the company has been “treating her like a number rather than a valued employee” and that they have been forced to take legal action.
“Jaz deserves the best care and the best treatment and this is simply not available on the NHS,” Satti said. ‘To have any chance of achieving any improvement, it needs to be moved to the Wellington.
“Every day she stays at Hillingdon, and they’re doing the best they can, is a day we lose her and that’s horrible.”
The family said Menzies had offered to help them after the accident, but the only help they had received was for the company to pay for taxis to and from the hospital.
They added that the company had lost contact with them and now rarely contacted them.
According to Nina, no one enjoys her job more than Mrs. Sahota, whose condition has also taken its toll on the people around her.
Financially, the cost of a move to Wellington would be around £300,000, more than his family can afford.
Meanwhile, Harman, 24, has been forced to take time off work as a signals engineer at Network Rail for stress-related reasons.
The 52-year-old woman was unloading luggage from a Loganair flight arriving in the capital from Dundee when the item of clothing got caught in the machine (Stock photo)
Nina also had to make adjustments and accepted a less demanding position at a recruitment firm near the family home in Hayes, west London.
Menzies was founded as a wholesaler and bookstore in Edinburgh by John Menzies in 1833 and now covers cargo handling, passenger services and ground operations at airports around the world, generating $2.2 billion in revenue last year.
Lawyers for Ms Sahota’s family have found a number of causes which they say raise questions about Menzies’ commitment to the health and safety of its employees.
On Christmas Eve 2016, Rebecca Smith was injured when she fell through a gap in the railing onto a baggage carousel loader.
The incident occurred when the charger was struck by a moving vehicle and a Health and Safety Executive investigation into the incident found that the company had foreseen the risk of a collision between such vehicles but had not acted to mitigate the risk of a error on the part of the driver. .
Menzies, who pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, was fined £181,500 and costs of £21,043.
That case came after the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) fined the company £60,000 following the death of Cesar Valenzuela, 51, who was thrown from a luggage cart in the Los Angeles International Airport.
It was discovered that Mr. Valenzuela did not have his seat belt working.
Ms Sahota’s lawyers, Fieldfisher, will head to court in the coming weeks to seek the disclosure of material that could assist in a potential future negligence claim.
According to Nina, no one enjoyed her job more than Mrs Sahota, whose condition has also taken its toll on the people around her (pictured: Heathrow Terminal 2)
A spokesperson for Menzies told MailOnline: ‘An active investigation is underway following a serious incident involving a Menzies employee at Heathrow Airport earlier this year.
‘As this is ongoing, we are unable to provide further details at this time. Our thoughts are with our colleague and his family.”
Heathrow Airport declined to comment.
