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LEGAL RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: february 2013 :: RMTnews 25 Not content with its programme of dismantling employment rights, the government is pushing through amendments to health and safety laws which have been in place since the start of the last century. Amendments to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill, which is currently going through Parliament, will roll back a fundamental protection for working people established by the Court of Appeal in 1898. This return to Victorian times will result in the end of employers being automatically liable, under the Health and Safety at Work Act, to pay compensation when they had no excuse for a worker being injured. In law this is called strict liability and it happens when the employer really cannot argue they are not responsible for what happened. For example, when equipment is faulty and an employee is injured. Employers are also automatically liable for breaches of things like the duty to keep walkways in workplaces free from hazards that could trip people up. In those circumstances, the injured worker doesn’t have to prove the employer was at fault for what happened. They simply have to say “the law says you should have done this and you didn’t”. The motivation for the government’s amendment is of course its drive to free up businesses from the so-called burden of red tape. It isn’t clear how this country got through the Boer and First World Wars, the depression, the Second World War and the recessions of the 1970s, 80s and 90s with strict liability on employers and yet, in 2013, it is suddenly a “burden on business”. It means that someone who trips in a pothole in the street will actually have greater legal protection than someone injured at work. That’s because they will have a claim both in negligence and under the Highways Act. But the burden will be on the injured worker to demonstrate that their employer knew or ought to have known that the equipment they were using or a particular working practice was unsafe if they are to get compensation for their injury. This is very unfair. It loads the dice against the worker. The causes of workplace accidents can be complex. Faulty equipment could be down to the employer, the manufacturer, the service company, or anyone who has modified it. A boss may not themselves have left a hazard on the floor, but they were ultimately responsible for ensuring it did not happen. By not allowing employers an excuse when something goes wrong, the strict liability provisions in the Health and Safety at Work Act mean that an injured person doesn’t have to find out which of them was responsible. Instead, their employer has to show that they have complied with their health and safety duties and are not in breach of the regulations. This requirement provides a better level of protection for employees because it focuses an employer’s attention. Regulations encourage good behaviour. Good health and safety should of course be a priority for employers irrespective of what it costs or the benefits it brings. But there is also plenty of evidence that it is very valuable, both by reducing days lost to sickness absence and in maintaining good employer/employee relations. The changes proposed by the government will not only set health and safety law back over 100 years, they will encourage poor employers to pay lip service to health and safety generally. Civil justice changes They also come at a time when civil justice funding rules are changing, making it more difficult for injured people to find a lawyer to take their compensation claim unless it is going to be very straightforward, they have the means to pay lawyers fees themselves or they are a trade union member. This is as a result of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act passed in May 2012 [cross reference to previous article in RMT News]. From this April, injury victims will be expected to contribute to the cost of their case. We are seeing blow after blow to injured people. RMT and Thompsons are working with the TUC, other trade unions, health and safety campaigners and the Parliamentary group of MPs to oppose the dangerous amendments to health and safety laws and will continue to support injured members. The changes that come in on April 1 mean that members who think they or a member of your family have been injured through no fault of their own and may have a compensation claim should contact RMT’s legal service without delay. Claiming now before the new rules come in may make all the difference. Call RMT now on 0800 587 7516 for more details. Andrew Hutson of Thompsons Solicitors warns the government is taking workplace health and safety back to Victorian times and any members with a compensation claim should contact RMT’s legal service BACK TO THE FUTURE