Employment Law

Health and Safety

David Ager: Cornwall College

Aim

 To prevent accidents occurring in the

workplace
 A breach usually results in criminal liability
 But a claim for civil damages is also possible
Sources of Health & Safety Law

 Common law implied duty of care in the

contract
 Statute health and safety at work act 1974
 European legislation Treaty of Rome Art
118A
Common law

 Contained in the employers implied duty ‘to

take reasonable care to ensure the safety of
his employees’
 Failure to observe this may result in a claim
for constructive dismissal
 But – in reality tort of negligence usually the
basis of a claim
Common law poses two questions

 Was the injured party someone the employer

should have reasonably foreseen would
likely to be injured if the work had not been
carried out properly?
 Did the employer attain the standard of care
expected from a reasonable employer?
The injured party must show three
things

 That the employer owed a duty of care

 That there was a breach of that duty
 That the breach was the cause of the injury
Duty of care

 Owed to the employee as an individual Paris v

Stepney Borough Council 1951
 Duty is owed by the employer and may not be
delegated, although the performance of it may
be Wilsons v Clyde Coal Ltd & English 1938
Four areas of duty of care

 Employer must take reasonable steps to

provide and maintain safe plant and
equipment Bradford v Robinson Rentals
1967
 Employer must ensure that the workplace is
sage for employees and anyone else who
enters it Latimer v AEC 1953
 The employer has a duty to make sure that
the methods used to undertake work are safe
Mc Williams v Sir William Arrol & Co 1962
 The employer has a duty to recruit and train
competent fellow employees (and a duty to
dismiss those who are not) Hudson v Ridge
Manufacturing 1957
Breach of duty

 Plaintiff
must show that employer’s actions
were below a reasonable standard
 The breach must be seen as the cause of the
injury
The employer’s defences

 Contributory negligence damages reduced in

proportion
 Consent to the risk volenti non fit injura eg
ICI v Shatwell 1965
Employers indirect liability

 An employer may be liable under the doctrine of

vicarious liability but only if employee is acting ‘in the
course of employment’
 This is more strictly applied than in discrimination law
(see Jones v Tower Boot Co)
 Employer only liable if actions carried out with his
authority Kay v ITW Ltd 1968, Hilton v Thomas
Burton Ltd 1961
A breach of a statutory duty

 Health and Safety at work Act 1974

 Aimed at the employee (to act reasonably and take
reasonable care. Also to cooperate with employer in
carrying out HSW policy)
 And at employer (to ensure as far as reasonable, the
health, safety and welfare at work of all his
employees)
 West Bromwich Building Society v Townsend 1983
European Directive

 EC Directive 89/391 concerns harmonisation of

health and safety legislation in Europe
 Several acts have been enacted to comply with
this and other directives
 Eg Provision and use of work equipment regs
1992 Stark v The Post Office 2000