Victory over personal protective equipment
The GMB general union has won a landmark victory against home care company Cordia following a five-year battle for compensation for a care worker, Tracey Kennedy, who was injured when she slipped in icy conditions while on her way to treat a terminally ill client.
Kennedy badly injured her wrist when she slipped on an ungritted path, described as a sheet of ice under a layer of snow. Cordia had not carried out a risk assessment nor had it provided her with suitable protective equipment.
The case against the company was successful in the Scottish Court of Session, but subsequently overturned by the Inner House. The Supreme Court decision this month upholds the original decision that Cordia was to blame for the accident because it failed to take adequate steps to provide for her health and safety at work.
“It is a landmark decision not only for peripatetic workers, such as home carers, but for all workers who can rely on the employers common law duty of care,” said GMB organiser for Cordia Louise Gilmour.