Karen O’Sullivan considers the suitability of protective equipment
Health and safety legislation has been making the headlines in recent weeks, thanks to Lord Young’s report into the “compensation culture”. While recognising the huge advances which have been made in workplace safety since the Health and Safety at Work (etc) Act 1974 Lord Young notes that employers are increasingly concerned about being sued for health and safety breaches and that there has been an overzealous application of workplace legislation by some health and safety “experts”. This has resulted in health and safety obligations for employers which are too onerous and do little to protect their employees from the risk of injury.
With the media’s view being that the UK’s health and safety polices have gone too far it is perhaps fortuitous timing that the Court of Appeal have just published a judgment which neatly demonstrates why comprehensive risk assessments need to be carried out in the workplace and the necessity for appropriate protective equipment to be provided to employees.
Threlfall
In Threlfall v Hull [2010] All ER (D) 184 (Oct), Mr Threlfall’s employers had carried
