Description
Employer Liable For Noise-Induced Hearing Loss:The Court of Appeal held that section 29 of the Factories Act 1961 materially added to the employer's common law duty; the obligation under section 29 to ensure that a place of work was safe was absolute, subject to the defence of reasonable practicability. To prove liability under section 29, a claimant had to show that their place of work was unsafe. If they achieved that, the burden of proof then passed to the employer to show that it was not reasonably practicable for them to eliminate the risk of harm. The standard that was objectively safe could not change over time, despite changes in prevailing attitudes to what was acceptable.
