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R v. Mara |
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Date |
1986 |
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Issue |
“Undertaking”, Employer's liability, use of company equipment |
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Court |
Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
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Act, Regulation or Reference |
Health
and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, ss. 2(1), 3(1) |
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Facts |
J Mara had a contract to clean a store, weekly Monday to Friday
between 0730 and 0900 and, [by agreement], electrical cleaning
machines left at the store by the company could be used by employees
of the store at other times.
On a Saturday afternoon, an employee of the store used one of those
machines and because it had a damaged cable, the employee received
an electric shock which killed him. Mr. Mara, a director of the
company, was charged and convicted of failing to discharge an
employer's duty, under section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work
etc. Act 1974, by consenting to,
or conniving at, a breach by the company as employer to conduct the
company's undertaking in such a way as to ensure that persons not in
the company's employment were not thereby exposed to risks to their
health and safety.
Mr. Mara appealed against conviction on the ground that the company
did not conduct business at the store on Saturdays.
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The Decision |
The Court dismissed the appeal holding that for the purposes of
section 3(1) of the Act of 1974 the conduct of the company's
undertaking was not confined to the hours when the company's
employees were actually in the building carrying out the services of
cleaning the store, but also included the manner in which the
company left their machines in the store and permitted the store's
employees to use them. Accordingly there had been a breach of
section 3(1) and the appellant had been properly convicted of
consenting to or conniving at that breach. |
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Note |
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Other cases of interest |
Aitchison v. Howard Doris Ltd. [1979]
Carmichael v. Rosehall Engineering Works Ltd. [1984]
R v. Swan. Hunter
Shipbuilders Ltd. [1981]
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External links |
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