Occupational disease

Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013

On 1 October 2013, section 69 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 rewrote section 47 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA 1974) in relation to accidents occurring at work from that date. Civil liability will no longer arise from a breach of statutory duty unless the relevant regulation provides for it. For accidents that occurred prior to 1 October 2013, there are a number of statutory provisions which impose a strict liability on employers. When this duty applies, the claimant will succeed irrespective of whether there was any fault on the part of the defendant.

The regulatory regime will still be relevant to claims involving accidents on or after 1 October 2013 but, in most cases, claimants will have to prove negligence on behalf of their employer. Claims should be based in negligence, relying on breach of a regulation as evidence of the negligence. The claimant will (usually) need to prove that the defendant failed to take reasonable care for its employee’s health and safety. Defendant practitioners should be alive to this and any opportunities