Wilsons & Clyde Coal Co Ltd v English
Encyclopedia
Wilsons and Clyde Coal Ltd v English [1938] AC 57 is a UK labour law case concerning the employer's duty to provide a safe system of work for all its employees.
from 27 March 1933. He was repairing an airway leading off the Mine Jigger Brae, a main haulage road. Between 1:30pm and 2pm he was going to the pit bottom and the haulage plan was put in motion. He tried to escape through one of the manholes, but was caught by a rake of hutches and crushed between it and the side of the road. His family claimed damages. The company claimed that Mr English’s own negligence contributed to his death, because he should have told the person in charge of the machinery, or taken an alternative route.
Lord Atkin said he concurred with the other Lordships, and particularly with opinions given by the ‘Lord President in this case, and by the Lord Justice-Clerk in Bain v Fife Coal Co on the English case of Fanton v Denville’
Lord Thankerton, ‘when a workman contracts to do work, he is not to be held as having agreed to hold the master immune from the latter’s liability for want of due care in the provision of a reasonably safe system of working.’
Lord Macmillan, Lord Wright and Lord Maugham delivered concurring judgments.
Facts
Mr English was employed at Wilsons & Clyde Coal Co Ltd’s colliery at GlencraigGlencraig
Glencraig is a very small former mining village in Scotland, situated in the Benarty area of Fife, between Crosshill and Lochgelly. The village's population has decreased significantly since the decline of the coal-mining industry during the 1970s and 1980s....
from 27 March 1933. He was repairing an airway leading off the Mine Jigger Brae, a main haulage road. Between 1:30pm and 2pm he was going to the pit bottom and the haulage plan was put in motion. He tried to escape through one of the manholes, but was caught by a rake of hutches and crushed between it and the side of the road. His family claimed damages. The company claimed that Mr English’s own negligence contributed to his death, because he should have told the person in charge of the machinery, or taken an alternative route.
Judgment
House of Lords held unanimously that an employer has a non delegable duty to create a safe system of work. Even if an employer gives that duty to another person, they still remain responsible for workplace safety.Lord Atkin said he concurred with the other Lordships, and particularly with opinions given by the ‘Lord President in this case, and by the Lord Justice-Clerk in Bain v Fife Coal Co on the English case of Fanton v Denville’
Lord Thankerton, ‘when a workman contracts to do work, he is not to be held as having agreed to hold the master immune from the latter’s liability for want of due care in the provision of a reasonably safe system of working.’
Lord Macmillan, Lord Wright and Lord Maugham delivered concurring judgments.
See also
- UK labour law
- Unfair dismissalUnfair dismissalUnfair dismissal is the term used in UK labour law to describe an employer's action when terminating an employee's employment contrary to the requirements of the Employment Rights Act 1996...