Lawford Kidd's Blog

A man has died after he suffered severe burns following an industrial accident at a sewage treatment works.

The incident which occurred in Yorkshire highlights the dangers of working in such an environment,  with industrial accidents in areas such as waste management and other types of work increasing according to provisional figures from the Health and Safety Executive.

Mick Jennings had worked for Yorkshire Water for eight years as a mechanical fitter in an engineering team and had a significant amount of training.

Under current Health and Safety Executive (HSE) proposals, self-employed people in the United Kindgom (UK), whose work activities pose no potential risk of harm to others, are to become exempt from Section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HSWA).

Self-employed persons undertaking activities on a prescribed list however, will continue to have duties under health and safety law.

The prescribed activities listed by the HSE are those:

Workers who have sustained an injury as a result of an accident at work will find it much harder to bring a successful compensation claim after Section 69 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act came into force on the 1st October 2013.

Government’s justification

The Government describes the purpose of the Act, which received Royal Assent in April of this year, as “cutting the costs of doing business in Britain, boosting consumer and business confidence and helping the private sector to create jobs.” However, from a personal injury point of view, the effect of the Act has been to switch the burden of proof for a work related injury claim from the employer to the employee.

The Government claims that such a radical switch was necessary because businesses are currently liable to pay compensation for employee injuries, even where they have taken all reasonable steps to prevent the injury from occurring. According to the Government, this has resulted in companies over complying with health and safety regulation out of a fear of being sued, and has led to them facing unnecessary costs.