Compensation for brain damaged casual worker

A case reported recently in the Law Society Gazette could have implications for short term and casual workers injured whilst at work.  An unqualified worker building an extension to a house fell from a raised scaffold and suffered brain injuries that left him with permanent disabilities.  In today’s blog entry I will examine the issue in the case.

The accident happened during the construction of an extension to a house; the workers were mainly unqualified foreign nationals who were paid minimal amounts to work on the site.  During the work one of the workers fell from a raised platform, suffering fatal brain injuries.  The worker’s family made a claim against the foreman who had been organising the construction.  They claimed that he was guilty of failing to discharge his duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

The foreman responsible for the work defended himself by arguing that the workers did not count as employees and therefore they were not covered by the act.  At the trial this defence was dismissed as the judge identified several points that pointed to the relationship between the workers and the foreman as being a relationship between employer and employee.  The foreman drove the workers to the site each morning, provided lunch for them and paid them at the end of the day, therefore in the opinion of the court the workers were employed by the foreman.

An appeal was made by the foreman against his conviction and against the compensation he was ordered to pay out to the worker who had been injured.  In the appeal the foreman’s legal team said that the judge in the original case had failed to consider whether the workers had been under any obligation to stay on the site and work the full day.  They also argued that the case was too complex and the information inadequate to allow the judge to make the compensation order using the Criminal Courts Act 2000, and that in fact the question of compensation should have been dealt with by referring to a different piece of legislation.  This appeal was dismissed.

Whilst a lot of the issues in this case concerned legal technicalities such as which laws should be applied and which pieces of evidence should be considered, the heart of the matter was very simple.  By transporting the workers to the site every morning (which therefore meant they could not easily return home), providing benefits such as food at lunch times and by paying them for the work done, the foreman was in the position of an employer, and therefore he owed his employees a responsibility to ensure they could work safely and without injury. 

The case is important as it draws attention to the problems foreign workers can have when working in the UK.  Some employers may have much lower regard for their safety than if they had been UK citizens.  However as this case has shown, simply denying that you are responsible for your employees health and safety whilst they are working for you is not likely to get you off the hook in court.

For information on making a claim if you have been injured in an accident at work, call Camps Solicitors on 0800 092 8586.  We handle hundreds of workplace accident compensation claims every year and our lawyers are ready and waiting to take your call.