Health & Safety

Articles

Firing the last shot

The courts are unlikely to displace the traditional approach to contract formation unless there is proof that both parties intended for certain terms to prevail, says Masood Ahmed

Commission's "cost-cutting" VHCC scheme angers barristers and solicitors

lawyers have reacted angrily to an announcement from the LSC that one option for 'very high cost' criminal cases would be to extend the limits for the standard graduated fee scheme from cases lasting 40 days to 60 days.

On the safe side

Employers that ensure they implement the correct health and safety procedures are unlikely to be found liable for workplace accidents, says Dan McCauley

Lies told in court "quite rightly" do not lead to penalties, Lord Justice Ward says

In an extraordinary comment on our justice system, Lord Justice Ward said: “Lies are told in litigation every day up and down the country and quite rightly do not lead to a penalty being imposed in respect of them.”

Breaking up the gang

New powers conferred on the police, local authorities and the courts give them too much of a free rein and are overly prohibitive on respondents, says Jeannie Mackie

In the loop

Is there a duty on property professionals to remind clients of the advice they have previously given, asks Stephen Boyd

Time to let go

Whatever happened to rehabilitation? The decision of the Court of Appeal in Chief Constable of Humberside v The Information Commissioner [2009] EWCA Civ 1079 demonstrates that in reality no conviction is ever truly spent. The well-established belief that minor criminal convictions can be wiped out by time and repentance, and that mistakes made in youth need not dog one through the years of respectability which follow, has no foundation in fact.

Update: health and safety

Zahra Nanji reviews cases demonstrating the balance between employees' responsibility to have regard for their own safety and welfare, and an employer's duty to ensure health and safety procedures are followed