In the case of Burgess v Plymouth City Council the person making the claim against the Council was a cleaner for a School. The lady went into a classroom and tripped over a box used for storing lunch boxes and sustained an injury. The Local Authority (that’s her employer) disputed that they were responsible and therefore refused to offer her any compensation for her injury and other losses. Her employer argued that the cleaner ought to have been looking where she was going and it was her job to clean the classroom and that they had not breached any of the statutory duties (i.e. Workplace regulations).
However, The Court of Appeal disagreed with the Local Authority and decided that as there was a system for storing such boxes, and the box had not been stored, the boxes had no business being on the floor; and as such there was a breach of statutory duty albeit that the level of contributory negligence was high at 50% as the cleaner wasn’t looking where she was going. This means that she got compensated but she got half the value of her claim as she was found to be 50% at fault for the accident.
So, Regulation 12 (3) is very clear and works very well in the favour of employees that are tripped up and injured by obstructions at work – it says that the workplace ‘shall be kept free’ from any obstructions.
Further, if the route at work is not free from obstructions because of the actions of your colleague then you still have a claim as your employer is ‘vicariously’ (explicitly) liable for any breach of any statutory duty caused by one his employees.
In summary, your employer is liable for the actions of all of his employee’s and therefore anything causing an obstruction in the workplace; regardless of whom caused it, will be the responsibility of your employer – regardless of what they try to tell you!
