PI Brief Update

29 August 2008 - PI Practitioner

Workplace Slipping

Workplace (Health, Safety & Welfare) Regulations 1992

Regulations 12 (1) (2) and (3)

McCondichie v Mains Medical Centre
[2004] Rep. L.R.4; [2003] G.W.D. 35-993

Employer’s liability; ice in medical practice car park; applicability of Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 to persons other than employees;

Car park is part of the workplace. Regulation 12 (3) does not require the risk of slippage to be eliminated entirely, merely that the employer take reasonable steps to minimise the risk

Ellis v Bristol City Council
[2007] EWCA Civ 685

Workplace; floors; strict liability under Regulation 12 (1) and (2); Approved Code of Practice; slipping on urine on floor

Merseyside Fire & Civil Defence Authority v Bassie
[2005] EWCA Civ 1474

Workplace slipping; Regulation 12 (3); fireman slipping on layer of fine dust.

Dust on the floor was a substance which might cause a person to slip and it was reasonably practicable to keep the floor clear of dust by mopping. Breach of Regulation 12 (3).

Lewis v Avidan Ltd (T/A High Meadow Nursing Home)
[2005] EWCA Civ 670

Employer’s Liability; Slipping on unexpected flood water from a concealed pipe; Regulations 5 and 12 of the Workplace Regulations

The workplace included the floor on which the Claimant slipped but not the water pipe itself. No breach of Regulation 5 as the floor had been maintained in an efficient state. No breach of Regulation 12 (3) as not reasonably practicable for the employer to have acted differently.