Health and Safety at work
Who’s at fault if an employee falls and hurts themselves at work?
An ever increasing question when an employee falls form a height in the work place – “Who is liable, the Employer or the Employee?”
When looking into an accident in the work place was you have to ask was the accident caused due to a breach of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 rather than the conduct of the worker?
A motor garage appealed against a decision that it was negligent for personal injuries sustained when an employee fell off their ladder at work…
The business had moved to new premises and bumper kits were now stored in the loft. Access to the loft was found by removing a ceiling panel and using a long ladder.
The motor garage managing director restricted access to the loft to only 3 employees and instructed that the ladder must be footed before use.
The kits were being stored as end of lines and sold off. Half of them had been sold before the employee had their accident.
When going to court the judge claimed that the company had breached the Work at Height Regulations 2005 stating that the managing director had not organised the planning effectively of the use of a ladder in the work place, that the kits could have been stored in another place and that a pull down ladder should have been installed if the loft was a proper storage place.
The judge also added that the employee did know the ladder had to be footed before use, that they had used the ladder before on numerous occasions and that they should have asked someone to foot the ladder for them.
The judge ruled that the employee should get two thirds of the compensation for this awareness due to contributory negligence.
However the company contended stating that the employee had:
- Climbed the ladder without waiting for someone to foot it
- Ignored the managing directors instructions which he had followed previously
- Sole responsibility for the accident
To determine who was liable for the accident the court had to look at the Regulations in place rather than the employees conduct. They found that the place of employment was in the wrong as they were breaching the Regulations for working at height. The court found that the employee was doing work that he should not have been asked to do and also using equipment that he was not required to use. Therefore the judge ruled that the employer was breaching the regulations in view of the accident caused.
If you have any questions about an accident that has occurred in the work place contact one of our Personal Injury team on 0161 926 9969 who will be happy to help you with any questions.
