Today I met some friends at a local hotel.
At the time the windows were being cleaned, which is nothing unusual in itself. However when the window cleaners had finished the ground floor external windows, one of them put up a ladder to clean the first floor windows. This caught my attention because the window cleaner (who just happened to be a woman) proceeded to climb the ladder to the height of the first floor and as you are expecting cleaned the windows. What she did not do was secure the ladder at the top in any way to stop it from falling, slipping or moving. Neither did she use anything to stop the bottom of the ladder from moving or have anyone standing on (footing) the ladder to prevent it from moving.
Now you might think that this is quite normal or that the suggestion that preventing the ladder slipping is Health & Safety gone mad but what would have happened if the ladder had slipped or someone had been hurt and who would have been responsible?
It is quite likely if the ladder had slipped that the operative would have been hurt, it is also likely that since she was working over a door way that she could have injured a third party. It would certainly have been messy and spoilt at least one persons day.
Who is responsible and what are they responsible for?
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 Section 3: Places duties on employers and the self-employed to ensure their activities do not endanger anybody (with the self-employed that includes themselves), and to provide information, in certain circumstances, to the public about any potential hazards.
Section 4 Places a duty on those in control of premises, which are non-domestic and used as a place of work, to ensure they do not endanger those who work within them. This extends to plant and substances, means of access and egress as well as to the premises themselves.
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 3(2) Requires every self-employed person to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to his/her own health and safety and others not in his employment so that he/she can identify the appropriate control measure.
The working at height regulations 2005 (as amended) apply anywhere that there is a risk of falling while at work. Regulation 6(4) requires that the duty holder (in this case the owner of the hotel) ensures that the place where work is done at height (including the means of access) is safe and has features to prevent a fall, unless this would mean that it is not reasonably practicable for the worker to carry out the work safely (taking into account the demands of the task, equipment and working environment).
The duty holder is also required to ensure:
- All work at height is properly planned and organised;
- All work at height takes account of weather conditions that could endanger health and safety;
- Those involved in work at height are trained and competent;
- The place where work at height is done is safe;
- Equipment for work at height is appropriately inspected;
- The risks from fragile surfaces are properly controlled;
- The risks from falling objects are properly controlled.
That is some of the legal bit, put simply it is the responsibility of the property owner to make sure that anyone working in or on their premises does so safely and without risk to themselves or other people in the area of work. In this instance if someone had been injured the window cleaner, their employer (if she is not self-employed) and the hotel owner could be held responsible for any damage or injury caused as a result of the window cleaners actions or omissions. A civil claim for compensation could be made against any one or all of them, the window cleaner could even claim against the hotel owner for not ensuring that she was working safely.
The resolution is simple and would protect the hotel owner from prosecution in the event of an accident, while in doing so ensure that the window cleaners work safely and reduce the risk of harm to an acceptable level or remove it completely. To protect themselves all that the hotel owner has to do is ask the window cleaners for a risk assessment and method statement to show how they will work safely and remove any foreseeable risks. They also need to monitor their actual working practices and make sure that they follow their own procedures and it is in the best interests of the window cleaners to work safely for two reasons.
- If they are injured they probably will not be able to work, possible never again.
- By working safely they protect themselves from prosecution and potential compensation claims.
Safety is very simple, is it really worth cutting corners to save a few pounds when the cost of an accident is so high?
Think and be safe.
Another question that can also be asked is “What would have happened if the person had fallen from the ladder and injured themselves, was there adequate and appropriate first aid cover?” Would the Hotel owner have had a trained person on site to administer appropriate care to the injured person? Would there have been a suitable first aid kit?
Many self employed people do not carry these thinking, incorrectly, that they do not need to have one, or even need to be trained. As it happened in the incident described there would have been adequate provision, but it is worth considering.
A thought provoking piece that goes some way to clearing a few myths and clarifies responsibility. I also think that it should be remembered that Health & Safety rules are there NOT to inconvenience people but to minimise the risk of injury and death, and to protect all concerned from the risk of the “Where there’s blame, there’s a claim ” Culture that we now unfortunately live in.
Would the liability be the same if the window cleaner had been working at a private residence e.g. my home? Quite often the window cleaner will carry out works whilst the owner is out & return later in the day for payment.
Liability is that of the property owner. The easiest way to protect yourself is ask for a risk assessment from the window cleaner. If they are unwilling to provide one, I would recommend changing service provider.