11
|
P a g e
In the Wilson's case (see Case Law section), the employers duties towards their
employees were identified as being the:
Provision and maintenance of a safe place of work
Provision and maintenance of a safe system of work
Provision and maintenance of safe plant and appliances
Provision of competent fellow employees
Boundaries of the duty of care: It should be remembered that the duty of care extends to
the individual and not towards what we might call the average person. If an employer
knows, or if a reasonable employer could have foreseen, that an individual employee is
at greater risk than an average employee, then the employers duty of care towards that
individual employee is correspondingly greater.
It is important to remember that this legal relationship does not have to be in writing,
our actions can be taken as evidence that the relationship exists. For example, going to
help someone who collapses entails our entering into a relationship with them.
The common law would require that we act as a reasonable person would act in the
circumstances. The benchmark for what is to count as reasonable would depend upon
our level of competence. A reasonable first-aider would be expected to do more than a
lay-person, for example.
An example of the master-servant duty of care.
Examples of employees who could be at a greater risk than the average employee:
Workers who are disabled in some way (for example, have one eye or need to
use a wheelchair etc.)
Workers with a handicap such as colour-blindness or hearing difficulties
Inexperienced workers
Young workers
Women who are, or might become, pregnant
Workers experiencing stress
The last point has become part of the duty of care owed by employers to their
employees through a recent case involving a social worker who suffered a nervous
breakdown through overwork.
In this case, Walker v Northumberland County Council (1995), it was held that the duty
to provide and maintain a safe system of work extended to protecting the employee
from psychological as well as physical injury.
