Employers Liability

Question 1

List the duties making up an employers duty to provide reasonable care for its employees safety whilst at work.

Answer 1

Duties are to take reasonable steps to provide:

1) competent staff;

2) Adequate material (ie plant, equipment and machinery);

3) A proper system of work and supervision; and

4) A proper system of work and supervision.

Question 2

Is the duty to take reasonable steps to ensure employees safety whilst at work delegable?

Answer 2

No.

This duty cannot be delegated.

Question 3

If someone is badly injured by machine at factory, which is serviced by a contractor paid by the employer, who is liable?

Answer 3

The employer is liable to the employee. The duty cannot be delegated.

However, employer could recoup money they pay out to the employee from breach of contract claim.

Question 4

If employee is knocked over by lorry driven by a supplier delivering goods to a factory, outside the factory, who is liable?

Answer 4

The driver or their employer, as the driver of the supplier is not an employee of the company.

This is because the factory have not delegated any perfjoamcne of its duties to the supplier’s driver and was therefore injured outside the factory by someone not employed by the employer.

Question 5

Explain the employer’s duty to employ competent staff.

Answer 5

Duty to provide competent staff is not breached simply by a worker being incompetent.

It arises where the employer knew, or ought to have known about the risk a particular worker is posing to fellow workers.

The risk posed could be psychological risk as well as physical harm.

Question 6

List the practical issues employer must consider when complying with their duty to provide competent fellow workers.

Answer 6

1) selection of staff;

2) Provision of training to ensure staff are adequately equipped to do their job;

3) provision of supervision as necessary;

4) Dismissal of employees, who despite adequate training continue to pose a risk to fellow staff.

Question 7

Define equipment.

Answer 7

Covers anything provided by an employer for purposes of its business.

Question 8

Explain the requirement that an employee must provide adequate plant and equipment.

Answer 8

Covers and plant or equipment provided to employees which are inadequate in some way. Where equipment is provided it must be maintained to a safe standard.

Also covers situations where employee does to -provide all of the plant and equipment needed for the job.

Question 9

List the various ways equipment could be or become inadequate to use.

Answer 9

• problems caused by wear and tear/ age of machines
• problems caused by lack of servicing ad inspection.
• lack of safety devices (eg hand guards) on machines;
• inherent defects ion the machines (eg design faults or manufacturing defects).

Question 9

Is the duty to provide employees with adequate equipment and machinery a stand alone duty capable of a seperate claim?

Answer 9

Yes - under Employer’s Liability (Defective Equipment) Act 1969.

Employee needs to prove:

1) Fault on part of third party (usually manufacturer, but a supplier could also be within this); and

2) Caution (ie the fault of the third party caused the employee’s injury).

Question 10

Explain the duty to provide a safe system of work.

Answer 10

Employer must take reasonable steps to ensure the safe system is implemented which include:

• providing adequate training to employees in operation of new systems;
• ensuring employees are supervised;
• monitoring operation of system to ensure it is being fully complied with; and
• taking disciplinary action against any employee who fails to comply with the system.

Complying with this duty therefore requires employer to continuously assess risks of working environment.

Question 11

Explain the duty to provide employees with safe place of work.

Answer 11

This is similar to the duty under the OLA 1957, except the duty is non-delegable.

Question 11

Does providing a safe system of work extend to employees suffering stress as a result of their work?

Answer 11

Yes.

Threshold test is used to determine whether duty would arise relates to whether injury to health through stress at work was reasonably foreseeable.

Question 12

List the guidelines the court said should be considered where determine the ‘threshold question’.

Answer 12

1) Nature and extent of the wrk done by employee (eg was work load obviously too demanding in terms of type or amount; was there high degree of absence or sickness in relevant department); and

2) Signs from employees themselves - employer is entitled to assume employee was up to normal pressures of the job and was able to take what employee says to the at face value.

Question 13

When will an employer be found to have breached their duty of care?

Answer 13

If it fails to meet. standard of care to be expected of a reasonable employer in its position.

Question 14

Is the duty of care owed to each individual employee or the collective of employees?

Answer 14

Each individual employee.

Therefore where an employee has certain characteristic or disability requiring special attention, employer should reasonably be expected to account for this provided they know of such disability.

Question 15

What are the two main duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974?

Answer 15

Obligations to conduct risk assessments; and

Providing training for employees.

Question 16

Is breach of HSWA 1974 a criminal offence?

Answer 16

Yes.

It cannot be actioned in a civil claim.

Question 17

Are the statutory regulations under the HSWA 1974 relevant to assessing breach of duty?

Answer 17

Yes.

Court will ask:

• what risks employer ought to have foreseen; ad
• what precautions ought the employer to have taken in response to those risks.

HSWA 1974 regs will be relevant to answering these questions.