What Is a Duty of Care in the Workplace?

‘Duty of care’ is a term you might be familiar with if you’ve ever received any type of health and safety training at work. Duty of care is an employer’s legal obligation to protect their staff while they’re working according to various employment laws.

In this guide, we’ll look at what employers are expected to do to try and prevent their staff from becoming ill or injured.  We’ll also explore how you could be entitled to claim compensation if you’ve been injured at work because your employer failed to uphold their duty of care towards your well-being.

If you have been injured at work and believe you should be compensated, we’re here to help. If you contact our legal advisors, you’ll be offered a no-obligation initial consultation as well as free legal advice about your options. We could even partner you with a No Win, No Fee solicitor if your claim is accepted.

For more information, you can:

• Call 0333 241 2519 to speak to a legal advisor.
• Use our free live chat option 24 hours a day.

To find out more about what your employer’s duty of care in the workplace means to you, please read on or give us a call with any questions.

What Health and Safety Responsibilities Do Employers Have?

All employers have a legal duty of care towards the health and safety of their employees. This means that reasonable steps must be taken to try and keep staff as safe as possible while they’re working. This duty can be established by laws such as the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and the Health and Safety at Work etc. Regulations 1974.

These laws (and others that we’ll review shortly) mean that employers must:

• Identify any potential health and safety risks by conducting risk assessments.
• Take steps to control any risks identified.
• Train staff with information about any relevant risks as part of their safety training.
• Involve staff when designing and implementing health and safety procedures and policies.

Additionally, an employer’s duty of care means that they should:

Provide Safe Equipment and Machinery

Laws such as the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) mean that to prevent staff injuries, employers have a duty of care to:

• Provide workplace equipment that is fit for purpose and in good working order.
• Inspect equipment regularly and ensure that it is properly maintained.
• Ensure workplace equipment is installed and operated correctly.
• Train staff on how to use equipment safely.
• Make sure that equipment has any required safety features installed (warning signs, safety guards etc).

PUWER regulations cover most workplaces where any type of tools or machinery are provided by the employer for staff to use as part of their job.

Provide a Safe Workplace

It is probably safe to say that you’re more likely to have an accident at work if your workplace is in a poor state of repair, messy or disorganised. To help prevent this, the Workplace (Health, and Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 mean that employers have a duty of care to:

• Provide a safe and clean workplace that’s in a good state of repair.
• Ensure a reasonable temperature within the workplace.
• Install adequate lighting to help staff move around safely.
• Ventilate workplaces properly especially when working with hazardous materials.
• Provide workstations that are designed to help prevent employee injuries.
• Remove as many trip hazards as possible to try and reduce slip, trip and fall injuries.
• Think about the risk of Repetitive Strain Injuries at work (RSIs) when staff are working in enclosed spaces or carrying out tasks for prolonged periods.

Crucially, as well as ensuring that any workplace owned by the company is as safe as possible, employer duty of care also applies to other work locations. For instance, if you are working off-site, your employer should conduct a risk assessment before you’re asked to begin work.

Provide Adequate Staff Training

Whatever role you are in, your employer should not assume that you know how to perform the required tasks safely. Instead, they should offer initial safety training before you begin a new task. Additionally, they should offer refresher training on a regular basis.

Importantly, other staff should be trained appropriately as well so that you know that those working around you are unlikely to cause you to be injured at work.

Issue Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) if Required

If an employer is unable to remove a particular hazard, another way to mitigate it is to provide PPE such as protective clothing, facemasks and gloves. Crucially, PPE must be provided free of charge, be readily available, and must fit correctly to ensure effective protection. Employers are also responsible for maintaining PPE and ensuring it is properly used.

Implement Safe Working Practices

If a particular task in the workplace provides a significant level of risk, a Safe System of Work (SSoW) should be designed by your employer. The SSoW should provide clear instructions on how the task can be performed safely. All instructions should be clear and easy to understand and you should be trained on them before being expected to conduct the task alone.

What Other Laws Establish an Employer’s Duty of Care in the Workplace?

As well as the laws listed above, others may be relevant when trying to establish a duty of care depending on the task at hand. Some examples include:

• Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1997 (LOLER) when using lifting equipment at work.
• Work at Height Regulations 2005 when staff are required to work on ladders, platforms and scaffolds.
• Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH) where dangerous substances are used in the workplace.
• Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 when working in construction.

If you are involved in an accident at work, you won’t need to become a legal expert to understand whether your employer owed you a duty of care. That’s because one of our legal advisors can check this for you if you call for a free assessment.

Can I Sue My Employer If They’ve Breached Their Duty of Care?

If you are injured at work, it may be possible to start a personal injury claim for compensation. This might be the case if you can prove that:

• At the time you were injured, your employer owed you a duty of care.
• Your employer’s actions (or lack of action) mean that duty was not upheld (negligence).
• As a result of your employer’s negligence, you sustained an injury or were made ill.

If all the above are provable, you could be paid compensation. Therefore, we’ll look at what evidence can be used to prove a broken duty of care in the workplace and any associated suffering shortly.

Common Workplace Accidents That Could Lead to a Compensation Claim

Some simple examples where a breach of duty of care may lead to an accident at work claim are:

• Slips, Trips, and Falls: If an employer fails to keep walkways clear of hazards like spills or obstacles, an employee could slip, trip and fall, resulting in injury.
• Faulty Equipment: If an employer neglects to maintain or repair machinery, it could malfunction and cause injury to the user.
• Lack of Training: If an employee is not properly trained on how to safely perform a task, they could make a mistake that leads to an injury.
• Inadequate PPE: If an employer fails to provide or replace necessary personal protective equipment, an employee might be exposed to harmful substances or environments.
• Unsafe Working Conditions: If the workplace has not been properly assessed for risks (i.e., poor ventilation, excessive noise), employees could suffer from industrial illnesses or injuries.

In each of these cases, the employer may have breached their duty of care, leading to a potential compensation claim. If you’d like us to check if you’ve got grounds to start a claim, please call now.

What Evidence Is Needed To Claim Compensation After a Breach of Duty?

To make an accident at work claim against your employer, you must first prove that they breached their duty of care towards you. Additionally, you’ll need to demonstrate that this breach of duty directly caused the accident and your resulting injuries.

Therefore, we’ve compiled a list of evidence that you could use to try and prove your case if you decide to make a claim:

• Photographic evidence: For instance, to prove your employer failed to provide safe working equipment, you could take pictures of any defects.
• Video footage: CCTV, bodycam or dashcam recordings can be a very good way of proving why an accident at work occurred (and who was responsible).
• Accident report forms: If you report an accident at work, most employers need to record its details. Therefore, an accident at work form (or any type of correspondence) can be used to prove that you were injured at work.
• Medical records: To prove any injuries you wish to claim for, copies of your medical records could be obtained from your GP or the hospital that treated you.
• Witness statements: Another good way to prove that your employer breached their duty of care is to collect statements from anyone else who saw the accident.
• Accident investigations: If your employer denies liability for your accident, another way of proving what went wrong is to provide a copy of a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation report (where applicable).

In some cases, solicitors will offer to find the required information as part of their service if they offer to help.

Will a Solicitor Help To Prove My Employer Breached Their Duty of Care?

Work-related accident claims are generally handled by the employer’s insurance provider. This could mean that your claim will be contested and parts of your claim might be questioned.

As such, to help simplify the claims process, you may choose to instruct an accident-at-work solicitor who has a detailed understanding of the claims procedure. If you decide to work with one of our solicitors, they can normally assist in the following ways:

• Collecting the evidence necessary to support your claim.
• Dealing with all insurer queries on your behalf.
• Submitting as strong a claim as possible to try and prove how and why you are entitled to compensation.
• Fighting to secure as much compensation as possible to cover all of your suffering.
• Sending you updates regularly throughout the claims process.

Crucially, our solicitors provide a No Win, No Fee service for all accepted claims so you’ll only pay for their work if your claim is successful.

How Much Compensation Can I Claim?

If you win an accident at work claim, the compensation typically covers:

• Any pain and suffering (emotional or physical) caused by your injuries.
• Any impact on your normal activities and pastimes.
• Costs, losses or financial losses (i.e., medical fees, lost earnings, care costs, property damage etc).

To prove the suffering your accident at work has caused, your solicitor may ask for an independent medical assessment to be performed. You will also need to submit evidence including receipts or bank statements to prove any expenses you wish to recoup.

Contacting Us About a Breach of Duty of Care at Work

If your employer has breached their duty of care leading to an injury at work, you can contact us for free legal advice by:

• Calling 0333 241 2519 to discuss your options with a specialist advisor.
• Explaining what happened via our online chat service (open 24 hours a day).

There’s nothing to lose by getting in touch as our initial consultation is completely free and our solicitors offer a No Win, No Fee service for all accepted claims.