Leading Wiltshire personal injury solicitor, Clare Lowes, has condemned the Government’s plans to amend Section 47 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
The proposed amendment would remove ‘strict liability’ against employers, so that they would no longer be automatically at fault if an employee is injured at work. The change would mean that an employer would simply have to demonstrate that they have done everything reasonably practicable
to ensure employee safety.
Mrs Lowes, of BLB Solicitors in Trowbridge, said “the Government seems to assume that employers are currently doing everything possible to protect their employees from harm. The reality is very different. I see a constant stream of cases where employees have suffered often horrific injuries as a result of the most appalling breaches of health and safety law. These changes would mean that it would be far more difficult for employees to seek compensation, including lost earnings, if they are injured at work“.
The amendment follows a recommendation in the Löfstedt Report and forms part of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill. Last month the Bill passed through the House of Commons and has now been sent to the House of Lords.