The Workplace Regulations are there to protect workers from accidents at work.
If you have an accident but are not a ‘worker’ then you are not likely to be able to claim under The Workplace Regulations but that doesn’t mean you can’t claim in another way. It just means that you can’t benefit from this excellent bunch of regulations.
A particularly important case that outlines that the Workplace regulations are there to protect ‘workers’ only is ‘Donaldson v Hays Distribution Services’. In this case it was found that the 1992 Work Place Regulations did not extend to protect non-workers who are present in the workplace.
The reasons they provided for making this decision are as follows:
1. The Workplace Regulations were put in to place in order to protect workers
2. There is nothing within the Regulations which indicates that they should be extended to those on the premises as visitors, not workers
3. The idea of the Regulations was to ‘supersede’ those set out in occupiers’ liability act, without the need to amend the act.
In my mind the Workplace Regulations are quite extensive and from a legal perspective if a Client of mine is a ‘worker’ then it makes my job easier in claiming compensation for him/her.
There are so many regulations, I can usually find a breach but just remember you can only rely on these excellent Regulations if you are a ‘worker’ as defined under the Regulations.
