Abstract
The liability of an employer, including an employing health authority, to an injured employee is to be found in both common law and statute. This chapter addresses both sources of such liability and examines the grounds on which compensation may be awarded for injury at work, not only against a negligent employer, but also against other employees, from social security sickness benefits and from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board. Furthermore, wherever a statute or regulations impose duties on an employer and provide criminal penalties (such as a fine) for the breach of such duties, there may in certain cases be an additional civil liability (individual action for damages) in favour of a person injured by the breach of duty. In all such cases, proof by the defendant of contributory negligence on the part of the person injured is no bar to compensation in any of these cases, though it may reduce the damages awarded in respect of breach of a common law duty, or in breach of a statutory duty causing personal injury to an employee.
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Notes
McGinty v Glasgow Victoria Hospital Board [1951] SC 200.
See SI 1990/1329 (Commencement No. 1 Order).
In relation to the Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969 and the Fire Precautions Act 1971; see National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990, Schedule 8.
National Health Service (Amendment) Act 1986, sections 1 and 2; now repealed by the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990, Schedule 10.
EL(90)195.
Validated pursuant to the National Health Service (Remuneration and Conditions of Service) Regulations, SI 1991/481.
For the meaning and practical significance of vicarious liability, see Chapter 5 ‘Legal proceedings against health authorities and trusts’.
Law Reform (Personal Injuries) Act 1948, section 1.
[1957] 2 QB 348.
(1951) 95 Sol Jo 655.
[1970] 1 All ER 180.
[1953] AC 643.
Wilson v Tyneside Window Cleaning Co [1958] 2 QB 110.
[1937] 4 All ER 19. And see Chapter 30, p. 859.
The Independent, 8 November 1989.
Davie v New Merton Board Mills Ltd [1959] AC 604.
[1972] 3 All ER 1008.
Wilsher v Essex Area Health Authority [1988] 1 All ER 871.
The Times, 15 February 1972.
The Times, 10 May 1956.
[1961] 1 WLR 1314.
Current Law 1984/2311.
[1951] AC 367.
The Times, 10 March 1988.
[1950] 1 All ER 819.
[1991] 2 All ER 293.
[1967] 1 All ER 583.
[1956] 1 QB 545.
[1985] ICR 155.
[1989] 3 All ER 228.
See section 2(1); and see Mr. Justice Slade in Vandyke v Minister of Pensions and National Insurance [1955] 1 QB 29, 38.
SI 1974/1547; as amended by SIs 1982/288, 1985/39 and 1985/1626.
SI 1991/481.
1990 Scheme (revised), paragraph 4. The Scheme was given specific statutory status by the Criminal Justice Act 1988, sections 108-117.
[1976] 1 WLR 1237.
Current Law 1977/59.
Circular DS 166/71 dated 22 June 1971.
The changes came into effect on 1 February 1990. They were to have been introduced through the Criminal Justice Act 1988, but to avoid delay they were incorporated directly into the non-statutory Scheme.
The Times, 9 May 1986.
For a full examination and statement of the modern common law of damages for psychiatric injury, see Alcock and others v Wright [1991] 4 All ER 907. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (1990 Revision) now includes the possibility of compensating railway engine drivers for the psychiatric effects of track suicides; but neither the common law nor the Scheme extends any several liability otherwise.
Directive 85/374/EEC
Consumer Protection Act 1987, section 5(4).
[1954] 2 QB 66.
This figure is based on ecu values established by the Directive upon which Part I of the Consumer Protection Act 1987 is based.
[1952] 1 All ER 925.
For instance, relating to the professional responsibilities of community psychiatric or social work staff.
[1957] 2 QB 348.
The Times, 19 March 1952.
The Times, 9 March 1988.
[1941] 2 KB 232.
[1980] ICR 450.
Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act 1963, section 1(1).
Section 1(2); exceptions provided in sections 2 and 3 of the 1963 Act are not relevant to hospitals.
Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act 1963, section 1(5).
Constituted under the Fire Services Act 1947; see section 43 of the 1971 Act.
Fire Precautions Act 1971, section 40(3), as and when it comes into force.
Fire Precautions Act 1971, section 6(1).
There are exceptions relating to single private dwellings which although they may apply to hostel or other accommodation furnished by hospitals for their staff are not further discussed here. See section 2 (as amended by the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974) and section 3.
The Fire Precautions (Factories, Offices, Shops and Railway Premises) Order, SI 1976/2009 and the Fire Precautions (Non-Certified Factories, Offices, Shops and Railway Premises) Regulations, SI 1976/2010. These last deal with smaller operations which are not required to have a certificate but which must nevertheless take the specified fire precautions.
Fire Precautions (Hotels and Boarding Houses) Order, SI 1972/238. It should be noted that not all the enforcement powers are as yet in operation. Detailed reference should be made to standard works on the law relating to fire precautions.
See the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations, SI 1977/500.
Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 3.
Section 4.
Established under sections 10–14 of the 1974 Act.
Section 19.
Section 20.
Sections 21-25.
Sections 33-42.
SI 1988/1657, amended 1990/2026 and 1992/2382.
SI 1992/2793.
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© 1994 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Finch, J. (1994). Injury at work. In: Speller’s Law Relating to Hospitals. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-7122-7_20
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