Accidents at Work
Throughout the 1990's Parliament has substantially updated the legislation governing an employer's duty of care to their employees. A brief summary of the main statutory provisions is set out below:-
Workplace Health, Safety and Welfare Regulations 1992
The Regulations impose a duty on the employer to ensure that the workplace, equipments, devices and systems are in an efficient state (regarding Health and Safety, not productivity) and in good working order. There is a further duty to ensure a suitable system of maintenance. These duties are strict primary duties and not subject to the defence of reasonable practicality that can apply elsewhere in these Regulations. Any breach of these regulations for almost any reason will ensure success in any subsequent accident at work claim.
The Regulations also deal with floors and traffic routes and states that "the employer must ensure that they are of a construction to be suitable for the purpose for which they are used, shall have effective means of drainage and no flaws or slopes that could expose a person to risk of injury."
Numerous other Regulations within this section deal with secondary issues such as obstructions on floors, handrails, organisation of traffic routes, roof work and workplace temperature. These items also cover hygiene provision and issues such as provision of drinking water, facilities for rest and food, sanitary conveniences, and room space.
Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
"The Management Regulations", as they are normally known, demonstrated a shift in approach, placing the emphasis on the identification and assessment of risks at work by the employer. They impose a duty on the employer to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risk both to employees and others who may be exposed to risk by the employer's activities. The extent of the duty depends on the size of the employer and the nature of the activity carried out. Any organisation with five or more employees must have a recorded risk assessment. The more risk involved in a particular activity the higher the duty. Amongst other things the Regulations ensure that every employee should have adequate Health and Safety training and also impose specific duties regarding employees younger than eighteen years of age and expectant mothers.
In the past, breach of the Regulations did not automatically give rise to a civil accident at work claim, however since October 2003 a breach of the Management Regulations in respect of an employee will give rise to an automatic civil claim.
The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1999
These govern the equipment provided by the employer. An extremely wide interpretation of work equipment is seen in the case law and items such as soap and flagstones have each been found to be "work equipment." There is a duty that the equipment must be suitable for its purposes, adequately repaired and regularly maintained and inspected. These Regulations also set down guidelines for the provision of adequate training and information to employees, and set minimum standards regarding items such as fixed guards, emergency stop buttons and safety rails.
Manual Handling Regulations 1998
These Regulations set out an employer's duty to avoid injuries arising out of the transporting or supporting of a load by hand or by bodily force. Again interpretation of a manual handling operation is very wide and the injury need not occur directly as a result of the manual handling operation. For example a trip whilst carrying a load can give rise to a manual handling claim. Firstly the employer is under a duty to avoid manual handling operations which expose the employee to the risk of injury as far as is possible. If the employer has provided equipment to avoid the manual handling operation and the employee fails to use it, then this will be a defence to the employer.
Reasonable practicality can again be a potential defence for employers in any manual handling accident at work claim. The court will examine how far it was possible to avoid the manual handling or whether any more significant precautions could have been taken.
General duties are imposed on the employer in respect of training and considering the methods of reducing the risk of manual handling operations, e.g. can smaller packages be used? There is also a duty to ensure that the employee receives information both about the weight or any other relevant information (for example an unusual centre of gravity) of any item that is to be lifted.
Personal protective equipment
There are a variety of other Regulations governing the provision of personal protective equipment by the employer which include, amongst others, the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 1987, Noise at Work Regulations 1989 and Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 1999. There is a duty on the employer to provide adequate personal protective equipment for the specific circumstances which is appropriate for all risks involved and for the conditions at the time when exposure to the risk may occur. Specific duties for each set of circumstances can be found in the Regulations above.
