For the purpose of this blog, we’ll look at the following common sets of circumstances: Open holes in the pavement / highway, open holes in the workplace and open holes on a construction site.
Highway Act Claims
These are the most common when it comes to missing manhole covers. But other common circumstances are workman opening up the ground and failing to secure the area properly. If proper guards and cordons / railings are not erected, it’s no surprise that people can end up falling down an open hole and seriously injuring themselves.
The area must be adequately secured – you can’t just put a few cones around the hole as they don’t close the gaps and are not necessarily secure; especially in an area prone to intoxicated people; if you know what I mean! The hole should be covered and cordoned off to prevent an accident. The duty as to who is at fault can be with either the local authority or the people in charge of the work site.
When it comes to missing manhole covers, whether a claim can be made or not commonly comes down to two things:
- Were the relevant highways authority aware of the missing cover;
- Is there a good system of inspection and maintenance in place
If they were aware of the missing cover and failed to act on it within a reasonable period of time, you may have a claim. If there is no good system of inspection in place, you may also have a claim.
At Work
At work, the relevant piece of legalisation is The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 that state the following:
12.(2)(a) the floor, or surface of the traffic route, shall have no hole or slope, or be uneven or slippery so as, in each case, to expose any person to a risk to his health or safety;
Further to this, the issue of falls is specifically addressed in the following section under the same legislation:
13.(1) So far as is reasonably practicable, suitable and effective measures shall be taken to prevent any event specified in paragraph (3).
(3) The events specified in this paragraph are:-
(a) any person falling a distance likely to cause personal injury;
That, in my opinion, is the great thing about the numerous workplace regulations there exist; the fact that they practically cover every eventuality. The duty on your employer is clear and strong – breaching these duties can make them liable to compensate you, and that’s what they have specialist insurance for. If you fall in a hole in the workplace, you may have a strong claim.
Open Holes On Construction Sites
As it will be a workplace situation, the above mentioned bits in the “At Work” category still apply. The difference is the duty should be clearer and higher in my opinion because the likelihood of there being holes in a construction site is probably higher. But the same regulations apply.
On a final note, if the hole was caused or made dangerous by a colleague (say they created the hole and failed to guard it or removed guards of an existing hole) then this can come under the scope of vicarious liability. In essence, this means that the negligence of a colleague falls on your employer. So you still have a good claim.
