Question 2
2.0 STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS OF THE CASE.
As noted in the above section, the defendant was obliged to take reasonable care for the health and safety of its employees in the workplace. In this case, the City council as the employer to the claimant owed this absolute duty to Mrs Preston. This duty is bestowed upon the employer by the employment contract (Holt, 2010) between the claimant Mrs Preston and the defendant, Fentham Metropolitan District Council.
It is evident that the defendant failed to comply with statutory provisions and thus constitute a breach, and was negligent according to common law on his duty to care for his employee. In this regard, the claimant can sue for damages basing her case on the tort of negligence and breach of statutory duty (double barrel action) that resulted in injury.
2.1 Discussions
For a civil claim to be successful in the court of law, the claimant must prove her case. In pursuing a claim for the tort of negligence, the following should be proven by the claimant.
2.1.1There was a duty owed to the claimant by the defendant.
The contract of employment establishes the element of proximity between the two parties, and as this arises a legal obligation to the employer to ensure as far as reasonably practicable to safeguard the health and safety of their employee by the provision of a safe working place as stipulated in Section 2 of HASAWA 1974 and MHSWR 1999.
The city council owed a duty to provide a safe working place to the
Employers, managers and supervisors should all ensure that workplace practices reflect the risk assessment and safety statement. Behavior, the way in which everyone works, must reflect the safe working practices laid down in these documents. Supervisory checks and audits should be carried out to determine how well the aims set down are being achieved. Corrective action should be taken when required. Additionally, if a workplace is provided for use by others. The safety statement must also set out the safe work practices that are relevant to them. Hence, it is
The main features of the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974) is that it requires certain health and safety procedures to be maintained in a health and social care setting, for example, the act explains that there must be, safe operation and maintenance of working equipment, plant and system, maintenance of safe access to the workplace, safe use, handling and storage of dangerous/hazardous substances, training of staff to ensure that there is health and safety, to provide welfare for staff at work.
Although the Health and Safety at work etc. Act 1974 provides criminal legislation for employers, there are various key health and safety requirements that identify a duty of care owed to an employee by an employer, that have been set via precedents. This essay aims to identify the key health and safety requirements owed by an employer to an employee, deriving from common law, including the principle of vicarious liability
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Employers, employees and the self-employed have a duty to protect, so far as is reasonably practicable, those at work who may be affected by work activity.
Legislation and Guidelines for England and Wales To continue further development at Riverglade House, a small residential care home I am checking and outlining all the policies and procedures relating to health, safety and security and how they influence health and social care settings. The Health and Safety Work Act 1974 (HASAWA) is an act that secures the health, safety and welfare of people at work. This protects anyone at work from any risks to their health or safety in connection with the working environment. This act will protect employees, service users and the public from any work activities. All employers, employees, trainees, self-employed, manufactures, suppliers, designers and importers of work equipment have a duty to follow and
Employers must provide a safe working environment for all of their employees. The legislation states it is an employer’s duty "to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work" of all their employees as well as others on their premises, including temps, casual workers, the self-employed, clients, visitors and the general public.Workers health is paramount within an organisation, employers must ensure that all workers health is not affected by the work they are doing and put in place all necessities to prevent this. The Health and Safety at Work Act sets out specific standards which can add costs to a business, however these costs are considered essential for the safety of all workers. Most of the costs come from training staff about health and safety and putting in place procedures to maintain this. This act prevents unfair unsafe working conditions which in turn reduces the likelihood of accidents or injury at work. If a worker has injured themselves at work due to something which could have been otherwise prevented by the company had the followed the guidelines of the Health and Safety at Work Act they company may be required to pay out for the injury. For those who employ five or more staff, employers must also keep and revise a written record of health and safety policy and consult
The Tort of Negligence put the claimant in the position to prove that the defendant owed to them a duty of care, the defendant breached that duty and the claimant must have suffered damages as result of that breach (Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC562).
The employer has a responsibility to follow the regulation which is known as the ‘Health and Safety at Work Act 1974’. This is An Act to make further provision for securing the health, safety and
1.2: Employers responsibilities in the relation to the prevention and control of infection are to keep everybody safe and to provide a safe work place, they do this by following current legislation. A few examples taken from the HSAWA are COSHH, The Public Health (control of diseases) Act, Food Safety Act
Section 2 of the HSW Act deals with employersʹ duties, and states: ʺIt shall be the duty of all employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health safety and welfare of all their employees whilst they are at work.ʺ
It is important to recognise the different responsibilities and approaches of a member of staff, the employer and others in the work setting. For example the employer is responsible to provide PPE and relevant health and safety training free of charge. It is then the responsibility of a staff member to use the PPE and to attend the training. So although the responsibilities are different they are also related and both need to work in order to ensure a high standard of health and safety. The employer provides as safe working environment, however if an accident or incident occurs it requires the efforts of both staff and sometimes others to report this to ensure measures are put into place to reduce any risk associated with the incident or accident. Another example of how health and safety has a linked responsibility can be shown through a member of staff ensuring they provide the relevant fire safety information/instructions to others. It is then the responsibility for others to follow these instructions.
Any care practitioner needs to develop awareness about health and safety law and to works in ways that follow the health and safety guidelines, procedures
Employers must provide a safe working environment and equipment / uniform / signs to ensure the employees are as safe as they can be. Customers are also provided with a safe store to shop in and measures are put in place to ensure everyone’s safety in kept in tact
The main idea of the law of negligence is to ensure that people exercise reasonable care when they act by measuring the potential harm that may foreseeably cause harm to other people. Negligence is the principal trigger for liability to ascend in matters that deal with the loss of property of personal injury. Therefore, a person cannot be liable for something unless they have been found negligent or have contributed to the loss of property or injury to the plaintiff (Stuhmcke, 2005). There is more to
It is important it have a written work Health and Safety Policy for the organizations and businesses which have management systems. The Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 addresses Major Hazard Facilities in Regulation 558 and Schedule 17(1.2) and requires that the Safety Management System includes a Safety Policy, including the operator’s broad aims in relation to the safe operation of the major hazard facility, and that the safety policy must include and express commitment to ongoing improvement of all aspects of the safety management system. A Work Health and Safety Policy is an explicit statement of business commitment to work health and safety. It will include a statement outlining the importance which is placed on work health and safety and how it is to be implemented.