The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill, currently going through the Westminster Parliament, might not sound to you as though it should have much to do with personal injury law but it does. Specifically, it is claims for injury arising from accidents at work that are potentially affected and the consequences are significant. A late amendment was introduced to the Bill by the Government in October 2012, without consultation. If this new provision becomes law, the effect will be to make breaches of health and safety regulations – which currently give rise to civil liability on the part of employers – no longer actionable. UK health and safety law has undergone a revolution particularly in the last 20 years as a result of workplace directives and regulations from the EU. This is sometimes referred to as unnecessary “red tape” but the fact is that the number of workplace accidents has reduced significantly as a result of developments in the law throughout the whole of the 20th century. Continue Reading
Contributory Negligence or Entirely Your Own Fault?
Hitting a detonator with a hammer to see what happens. Does that (bang) sound to you like a good idea? There are some situations where an injured person’s own conduct seems quite foolhardy in the circumstances and yet they have still been able to get compensation for their losses. In some situations, though, the claimant’s own conduct can be seen as such an overwhelming cause of their injury that it is taken to be the only cause having any legal effect – and the injured person in that type of case is often said to be ‘the author of their own injury’. A finding of that nature means your claim fails. In a Scottish case reported in 1957 (Donaghy –v- National Coal Board), a young miner sued his employers for damages for injuries which he suffered when he exploded a detonator by striking it with a hammer. He alleged that he had done this in the belief that, if struck sharply, a detonator would do no more than make a harmless noise. This claim did not succeed. The judge in Continue Reading
Moray Claims Place in World List of Scenic Coastlines
National Geographic has put the Moray Coast in the top twenty of its world list of the most beautiful coastal regions. This should be good news for tourism in Moray and the North of Scotland. The article – which is available on the National Geographic Travel website – emphasises the area’s outstanding cliff scenery and strong community feeling. It has been formulated from opinions from a panel of 340 experts in sustainable tourism taken together with views of readers on the locations of the Earth’s most scenic coastal regions. Comments from readers included that the Moray Coast is: "A wonderful region of Scotland - beaches are fantastic, and the area welcomes visitors as one of their own.” Continue Reading
Accidents at Work – Loss of Earnings
Where you have been injured in an accident, a common consequence is that you will not be fit for work for a period of time. We often find that our personal injury clients who are victims of accidents in the workplace - in situations where it was the employer's breach of duty that caused the accident - only decide to make a claim at all because during their absence they receive wages at a reduced rate. It seems unfair that not only have you been injured due to your employer's fault but you then also suffer a personal / family financial crisis. Some employers have a company sick pay scheme, usually set out in the employee's written terms and conditions. If you have the benefit of a scheme like this, it will often mean you getting full pay for some weeks or months, then half pay, eventually reducing to nil. If you are injured and there is no employer's scheme in place, you may still be eligible for statutory sick pay (SSP), the standard weekly rate for which is currently £85.85 Continue Reading