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Employers could be liable for equipment in private homes

04 March 2008

Thousands of companies and organisations could be sued by staff injured even when using equipment not provided or maintained by their employer.

The warning comes from national law firm Shoosmiths ahead of a Court of Appeal judgment in a case where a worker was injured at a private home when a wooden ramp collapsed.

A driver employed by Northamptonshire County Council injured an ankle as she pushed a wheelchair-bound patient down a wooden ramp at the patient’s home. The edge of the ramp - which had not been installed by the county council - crumbled, causing the driver to slip.

She sued the county council claiming inadequate work equipment under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER), and won; the Judge ruling that the ramp was ‘work equipment‘ under PUWER, and that it was inadequately maintained.
 
Northamptonshire County Council appealed the ruling, believing there will be widespread implications should the appeal fail.
 
Shoosmiths associate and insurance litigation and regulatory specialist Rubina Zaidi said: “The appeal decision is crucial for all employers sending staff to premises where they might use equipment owned or supplied by third parties.

“If it fails, it means employers could be liable for injuries to their staff caused by equipment neither supplied nor maintained by them.

“Quite how they will be expected to know about or to have any control over the condition or suitability of a third party’s equipment is unknown, and may mean employers could be responsible for equipment in private homes.”

Judgment is awaited.

For further information please contact:
Name: Alastair Gray
Phone: 08700 864096
Email: alastair.gray@shoosmiths.co.uk

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