Health and safety: the time limit for appealing prohibition notices, revisited (Petrofac Facilities Management v Evans (HM Inspector of Health & Safety))

Table of contents

• What are the practical implications of this judgment?
• What is the relevant background?
• Background law
• Background facts
• The decision of the Scottish employment tribunal
• The judgment of the Employment Appeal Tribunal
• What did the Inner House of the Court of Session decide?
• Case details

Article summary

Employment analysis: When appealing against a prohibition notice issued by a Health and Safety Inspector, if the appeal is not brought within the primary 21-day time limit, then there are two ways under the employment tribunal rules pursuant to which the tribunal may extend time to bring the appeal, namely (i) where the party appealing can show that it was ‘not reasonably practicable’ for the appeal to be presented within the 21-day period or, failing that, (ii) by the tribunal exercising its general discretion to extend time under rule 5, according to the Inner House of the Court of Session, overturning the previous judgment to the opposite effect of the Employment Appeal Tribunal.