HSE loses appeal in unforeseeable risks case

Employers should not be found negligent on health and safety grounds when employees act outside their remit, according to the Court of Appeal.

The ruling (R v HTM [2006] EWCA Crim 1156) was made last month in the case of two workers, employed by engineering firm HTM Limited, who died on the A66 road after equipment they were using came into contact with an overhead electricity cable. The workers had moved a mobile telescopic tower without following their training and the instructions printed on the equipment, which said that the tower had to be lowered first.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted HTM for breaching health and safety law. It argued that employers should be required to take reasonable steps against unforeseeable risks, and that employees’ negligent actions are irrelevant to the employer’s guilt, but the Court of Appeal disagreed.

The HSE now plans to take the case to the House of Lords.