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Case Law

  • Fatal accident enquiry into the death of Mr Graeme Fraser Duthie - 

 
​UK H&S legislation links 

(N.B. only most relevant to VEPS included, many other regulations apply)

The Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1974/37/contents

Section 2 (General duties of employers to their employees.)


  1. It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.

  2. Without prejudice to the generality of an employer’s duty under the preceding subsection, the matters to which that duty extends include in particular: (a) the provision and maintenance of plant and systems of work that are, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe and without risks to health; (b) arrangements for ensuring, so far as is reasonably practicable, safety and absence of risks to health in connection with the use, handling, storage and transport of articles and substances.


Section 6 (General duties of manufacturers etc. as regards articles and substances for use at work.)

(N.B. Section 6 is of particular relevance to manufacturers / suppliers of roof racks, given the forseeability of falls)


  1. It shall be the duty of any person who designs, manufactures, imports or supplies any article for use at work ... (a) to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the article is so designed and constructed that it will be safe and without risks to health at all times when it is being set, used, cleaned or maintained by a person at work.

  2. It shall be the duty of any person who undertakes the design or manufacture of any article for use at work  to carry out or arrange for the carrying out of any necessary research with a view to the discovery and, so far as is reasonably practicable, the elimination or minimisation of any risks to health or safety to which the design or article may give rise. 


Section 40 (Onus of proving limits of what is practicable etc.)

(N.B. Section 40 introduces the 'reverse burden' discussed in the 'Law' section, whereby after an accident, it may be for the employer to demonstrate that there was nothing more they could have done to prevent the incident)


  1. In any proceedings for an offence under any of the relevant statutory provisions consisting of a failure to comply with a duty or requirement to do something so far as is practicable or so far as is reasonably practicable, or to use the best practicable means to do something, it shall be for the accused to prove (as the case may be) that it was not practicable or not reasonably practicable to do more than was in fact done to satisfy the duty or requirement, or that there was no better practicable means than was in fact used to satisfy the duty or requirement. 


Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1999/3242/contents/made

Reg. 3 (Risk Assessment)


  1. Every employer shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of​: (a) the risks to the health and safety of his employees to which they are exposed whilst they are at work.


Work at Height Regulations 2005

​http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/735/made

Reg. 4 (Organisation and Planning)


  1. Every employer shall ensure that work at height is - (a) properly planned; (b) appropriately supervised; and (c) carried out in a manner which is so far as is reasonably practicable safe, and that its planning includes the selection of work equipment in accordance with regulation 7.


Reg. 6 (avoidance of risks from work at height)


  1. In identifying the measures required by this regulation, every employer shall take account of a risk assessment under regulation 3 of the Management Regulations.

  2. Every employer shall ensure that work is not carried out at height where it is reasonably practicable to carry out the work safely otherwise than at height. 

  3. Where work is carried out at height, every employer shall take suitable and sufficient measures to prevent, so far as is reasonably p practicable, any person falling a distance liable to cause personal injury.


Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER) 1998

​http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/2306/contents/made

Reg. 4 (suitability of work equipment)


  1. Every employer shall ensure that work equipment is so constructed or adapted as to be suitable for the purpose for which it is used or provided.

  2. In selecting work equipment, every employer shall have regard to the working conditions and to the risks to the health and safety of persons which exist in the premises or undertaking in which that work equipment is to be used and any additional risk posed by the use of that work equipment.

  3. Every employer shall ensure that work equipment is used only for operations for which, and under conditions for which, it is suitable.

  4. In this regulation “suitable” means suitable in any respect which it is reasonably foreseeable will affect the health or safety of any person.