An employer owes a duty to take care of the health and safety of his employees. This duty is set out in the Health and Safety Act 1974 and there have been numerous regulations made under the Act which detail the obligations on employers. An employer must provide his employee with a safe place of work, safe tools and competent fellow employees. It is not acceptable for an employer to claim that someone else was responsible for the employee’s safety in the workplace, as the employer’s duty to safeguard the employee’s welfare cannot be delegated by the employer to anyone else. The employer remains responsible for the employee’s health and safety.
The duties of employers are more extensive than those of, say, occupiers. The employer must provide employees with information, training, instruction and supervision to ensure that they are safe in carrying out their work, and must ensure that it is safe for employees to handle, transport and store articles and substances in the course of their employment. The more extensive duties on employers reflect the greater control an employer has over an employee in comparison to that an occupier has over a visitor. However, there remains a duty on the employee to take care of his own health and safety, and it is not uncommon in the event of accidents for employers to argue that employees should take at least some of the blame.
If you have suffered an injury at work or as a result of your work, you may have a claim against your employer if you believe that your employer was partly or wholly to blame for your injury. Common injuries sustained at work where the employer may be liable include back injuries sustained because of the employer’s failure to train the employee adequately in manual handling, or repetitive strain injuries where the employer has failed to assess the risk of such injuries arising. Psychological injury caused by stress at work is also potentially capable of giving rise to a cause of action against the employer, although generally there have to be signs of stress which the employer ought to be aware of and which he fails to take adequate action in response to.
Please contact a local solicitor in our Directory of Solicitors to discuss a possible claim further.