Robb v Salamis, 2007 SC HL 71
Citation:Robb v Salamis, 2007 SC HL 71
Rule of thumb:When can you sue an employer for an accident in the workplace? Virtually any accident that is foreseeable can be sued for if it happens to an employee in the workplace, unless it is exceptional, although there usually will be a level of contributory negligence. The Court in this case held that all employers should have a dossier whereby every single possible injury their employees can suffer is envisaged, with tactics, equipment, training etc then put in place to prevent it from happening. This is the basis of the approach all employers should take to preventing accidents from happening in the workplace. The Court also affirmed that there has to be a system for maintaining and checking the equipment, and ensuring that there is a system where problems can be reported.
Background facts:
The facts were that the pursuer fell off an unsecured ladder.
Judgment:
The Court held that the employer failed to put a plan in place training people that using a ladder was a 2 man job with another person securing it for longer and complex jobs, however, it was also held that the pursuer should have asked someone to do this for him as well, so there was a level of 50% contributory negligence to this.
Ratio-decidendi:
‘It is to ensure that work equipment which is made available to workers may be used by them without impairment to their safety or health... This is an absolute and continuing duty, which extends to every aspect related to their work... It is in that context that the issue of foreseeability becomes relevant. The obligation is to anticipate situations which may give rise to accidents. The employer is not permitted to wait for them to happen. The Sheriff misdirected himself on this point’, Lord Hope
Warning: This is not professional legal advice. This is not professional legal education advice. Please obtain professional guidance before embarking on any legal course of action. This is just an interpretation of a Judgment by persons of legal insight & varying levels of legal specialism, experience & expertise. Please read the Judgment yourself and form your own interpretation of it with professional assistance.