Duty of care
The duty of care is a general legal duty on all individuals and organisations to avoid carelessly causing injury to persons. It requires everything ‘reasonably practicable’ to be done to protect the health and safety of others at the workplace. This duty is placed on:
- All employers/organisations
- Their employees/volunteers;
- Any others who have an influence on the hazards in a workplace
The latter includes contractors and those who design, manufacture, import, supply or install plant, equipment or materials used in the workplace. The duty is regardless of the size of the organisation, its income or whether the organisation has paid staff.
‘Reasonably practicable’ means that the requirements of the law vary with the degree of risk in a particular activity or environment which must be balanced against the time, trouble and cost of taking measures to control the risk. It allows the duty holder to choose the most efficient means for controlling a particular risk from the range of feasible possibilities. The duty holder must show that it was not reasonably practicable to do more than what was done or that he/she has taken ‘reasonable precautions and exercised due diligence’.
Fleetworld Duty of Care Guide (2007)
Guide to the Legislation Governing Corporate Manslaughter
What we all know as the Duty of Care legislation is in fact an integral part of the Health and Safety at Work Act. In simple terms, the act requires an employer to be responsible for the Health and Safety of its employees whilst at their place of work. Therefore, any vehicle in which an employee carries out business on behalf of the company is regarded as a place of work and, as such, is most definitely subject to the current legislation...
(This guide has been produced by Fleetworld Group in association with LDV)
Compliance Checklist
A checklist of questions provided by comparecontracthire.com to ensure compliance with current legislation and employers' Duty of Care obligations...