Law - workplace accidents

The Law

All employers have a basic legal duty to take reasonable care for the safety of their workers. If an employee has an accident and is injured then an employer can be held responsible for that accident if it can be proved that the employer is negligent.

We can help with claims for industrial disease compensation or other work related matters

Employer's duty to take reasonable care

An employer’s duty to take reasonable care can be split into four main obligations. These are to provide:

a  Safe equipment and machinery.

b  Safe and competent work mates.

c  A safe system of work.

d  A safe place of work.

The above duties exist in common law and are laws that have been created and developed over the years by decisions of judges in particular Court cases. However a framework of statutory legislation and laws created by parliament also cover the above duties and provide protection to employees.

Safe equipment and machinery
 

Employers must provide safe equipment and machinery. This means that tools, machines and equipment used by employees must be reasonably safe and adequate for the purpose for which they were intended. This also means the employers must provide safe working premises. For example, if the floor is slippery or uneven the employers can be held liable if they knew of the defect or ought to have known of it.

Employers have a duty to take precautions where necessary to avoid electrical failure. A regular system of maintenance and inspection is obligatory and all businesses should conduct regular PAT testing to ensure employee or public safety is maximised.

Under the Employers Liability (Defective Equipment) Act 1969 employers will still be held liable to the employee for providing equipment that was made and manufactured in a negligent manner by another company. This avoids the potential problems of an employee trying to sue the manufacturer who may well be abroad or have gone out of business.

Safe and competent work colleagues
 

Employers are directly responsible for the negligence of their employees. If one employee is negligent and injures another employee, the injured employee can sue the employee and claim compensation. Employers must take reasonable care when selecting and training their workforce. They must give proper information, instructions and training to ensure that their employees carry out their work in an environment that is safe to everybody.

A safe system of work

Employers must have safe systems of work in place. This duty forces employers to introduce safe systems of work and ensure that the systems are maintained and modified as necessary. This includes areas such as the physical layout of work, the sequence in which the work is to be done, the giving of warnings and notices, providing information and training, and establishing safe working conditions.

If employers fail to ensure that a safe system is in use and an employee then has an accident as a result the employers will be held responsible and will have to pay the employee compensation.

A safe place of work

An employer must provide a safe place of work. This is a general duty that often overlaps with the others. There are various laws created by parliament that provide protection in this area.

Health and Safety executive

Employers are under a duty to report to the Health and Safety Executive any accident that involves major injury or death. These include fractures, amputations, or injuries that involve the injured person being hospitalised for more than 24 hours. Also any major incident such as explosions collapse of equipment etc must be reported. The report must be made immediately and confirmed in writing within 7 days.

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