Case law: employees' negligence can affect employers' health and safety liability
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A recent court ruling may help employers who face health and safety claims when employees have not followed correct procedures.
Under the health and safety legislation, employers are required 'to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety at work of all their employees'. A proviso added in 1999 provides that an employer, when defending a claim, cannot rely on any act or default by the employee. In this case, two employees of a traffic management company engaged in road repair work were killed when they were moving a mobile telescopic tower which came into contact with overhead high-voltage power cables. The employer argued that it had taken all reasonably practicable steps to ensure the safety of the employees. It had provided training and instructions, and the accident was a result of the employees' actions - it could not have foreseen that they would act in that way. The Court of Appeal ruled that the employer had discharged its duty 'so far as reasonably practicable', and the wording of the 1999 proviso did not apply in this situation. This Court's decision clearly reinforces the value of businesses having training programmes and operational policies that employees are required to follow. Immediate
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