Apart from denying full responsibility for your
work place accident, your employer may also attempt to blame you for the accident.
The company may say that you were partly at fault. This is what is known as “contributory negligence”.
The most common situation where the employer can use the rule of contributory negligence is where you failed to follow company instructions and procedures. The employer may have been at fault by for example, failing to carry out proper risk assessment, but your compensation will be reduced by an amount to represent the portion of your own fault.
Employers use contributory negligence as a weapon to resist almost every workplace accident claim to avoid paying full compensation and also to delay claims.
The principle of contributory negligence is so important in personal injury compensation claims because it affects how much compensation you get. I will explain this fully by giving a real court case example.
In Ashbridge v Christian Salvesen, Ashbridge was a supervisor with Christian Salvesen. He suffered burns to his feet while cleaning out a tray in a washing machine.
The employer had produced a set of instructions outlining the procedures for cleaning trays in the washing machines which all employees were required to read, sign and follow.
All employees had been instructed to remove debris from trays before putting them into the washing machines, but they regularly ignored these instructions. This created an ongoing problem requiring the washing machines to be cleaned out about four times a week because of clogging.
Ashbridge ignored the cleaning instructions as a result, hot caustic solution poured out of the washing machine causing him to suffer severe
burn injuries to his feet.
He blamed his employers for the accident, stating that they allowed the tray washing machine to become clogged up with debris and that the instructions they gave to employees were not enough.
The Judge concluded that the accident was caused by the carelessness of an employee of Christian Salvesen in allowing a large piece of polythene to go to the washing machine.
When he considered whether Ashbridge was at fault, the Judge stated that Ashbridge‘s actions went beyond the usual sort of carelessness and concluded that his attitude was cavalier. He assessed contributory negligence at 50%.
This meant that Ashbridge received only 50% of his compensation because of his own carelessness and failure to follow his employer’s instructions.
In this case Ashbridge was a supervisor and a senior employee. It must be remembered that the law is intended to protect employees against accidents caused by even their own carelessness.
This case emphasises the responsibility of the employer for health and safety at work. It means that even if you are well trained, very experienced, and quite senior and you ignore safety rules, the employer can not deny full responsibility for an accident at work.
If you have suffered an injury at work, you need to seek advice from a specialist
work injury solicitor who can guarantee you 100% compensation.
Asiimwe Balinda
Personal injury Solicitor