The section is part of a scheme of criminal liability, from which any civil liability only follows ‘by judicial interpretation’. Diplock LJ said: ‘The occupier’s duty in respect of working places is not to prevent accidents occurring to persons working at them but to take all such measures as are reasonably practicable to make and keep the working place safe for such persons. ‘Safe’ is the converse of ‘dangerous’. A working place is safe if there is nothing there which might be a reasonably foreseeable cause of injury to anyone working there, acting in a way in which a human being may reasonably be expected to act, in circumstances which may reasonably be expected to occur.’
Judges:
Diplock LJ
Citations:
(1967) 3 KIR 315
Statutes:
Cited by:
Cited – Baker v Quantum Clothing Group Ltd and Others SC 13-Apr-2011
The court was asked as to the liability of employers in the knitting industry for hearing losses suffered by employees before the 1989 Regulations came into effect. The claimant had worked in a factory between 1971 and 2001, sustaining noise induced . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Personal Injury
Updated: 11 May 2022; Ref: scu.440372