New legislation will make it more dangerous for employees to go to work, according to Huddersfield solicitors Ridley & Hall.  The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 removes the right to sue for breach of health and safety regulations as from 1st October 2013 – this massive change in the law will have a huge impact on anyone who is injured at work.

The most recent Health & Safety Executive figures for 2011/12 show: –

• 172 workers were killed at work.
• 111,000 other injuries to employees were reported.
• 27 million working days were lost due to work related illnesses and workplace injury.
• There are 1.1 million people suffering from work related illnesses.

The Act states that it “aims to cut the cost of doing business in Britain, boosting consumer and business confidence and helping the private sector to create jobs”.  The government produced Guide to the Act makes one of its aims even more transparent:

“limiting civil liability for breaches of health and safety duties.”

The government has relied on cases such as that of Stark v The Post Office in support of its argument that the law needed to be changed.  Mr Stark was employed as a postal worker and rode a bicycle to carry out his duties.  The bicycle was supplied to him by his employers, the Post Office.  He was injured at work when the front brake of his bicycle snapped, which locked the front wheel – Mr Stark flew over the handlebars and suffered injuries.  He brought a claim against his employers and the Post Office argued that they should not have been expected to foresee the random nature of the fault.  The Court ruled however that there was an obligation on the Post Office to ensure that the equipment was at all times in an efficient state of repair.  They were in breach of workplace regulations that were introduced in law in 1992 as a result of a European directive.  Mr Stark did not need to prove that his employers were at fault – but simply establish that they had been in breach of the relevant regulation. This is called strict liability.

Employers and their insurers have long sought to remove strict liability so that any employee suffering an injury would have to prove negligence before they could succeed in a claim for compensation.  In the coalition government, they have finally found their champions.

The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 significantly reduces the burden on employers to care for their employees’ safety.

The President of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, Matthew Stockwell says: –
“The effects are likely to be profound and the consequences will not just effect employees but society as a whole”.

There is now a risk that that employers will down grade the time and investment that they spend on health and safety.  Samantha Hirst, personal injury specialist at Ridley & Hall Solicitors commented: –

“Health and Safety Executive statistics record that employer reported non fatal injuries have been decreasing gradually over the period from 1997/98 to 2011/12.  Removing the financial pressure on employers and their insurers to focus on health and safety at work is almost certainly going to lead to an increased number of fatal and non fatal workplace injuries.”

She is concerned that injured workers will also suffer:

“Employees who are injured are going to find it harder to claim compensation because of the new Act and will struggle to get solicitors to take on their cases on a ‘no win no fee’ basis.  So this is good news for employers and insurers but almost certainly very bad news for employees.”

She went on to say: –

“We often hear about the “compensation culture”.  The reality is that if someone is injured at work and it wasn’t their fault, they ought to be compensated fairly for their injuries.  There is always the odd case that hits the headlines but the vast majority of claimants are hard working individuals who were just doing their job.  Reducing the regulatory burden on employers is a good thing – but not at the expense of protecting employees.  Profits are not more important than people.”

Samantha is a paralegal in Ridley & Hall’s specialist Litigation team with years of experience in personal injury cases.

For further information please contact Samantha Hirst of Ridley & Hall, Queens House, 35 Market Street, Huddersfield, HD1 2HL on 01484 538421.