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Injury caused to one employee resulted from negligence of another employee
I own a small engineering business and one of my employees was recently injured because a guard had been wrongly fitted by another worker. I initially denied responsibility but my insurer says it is likely I will be held "vicariously responsible". To what extent am I responsible for all my workers actions? If one is injured while they are fooling around, am I responsible for that?
Some statutory regulations impose responsibilities on employers to safeguard the health and safety of their employees.
However injuries incurred at work are not necessarily the fault of the employer if they are caused by another employee.
If a guard was wrongly fitted to machinery by another employee and an accident resulted in an injury, the court would be likely to rule that the employer had a vicarious responsibility and would be liable.
However if an injury were to result from (say) horseplay then the employer might not be vicariously liable for a claim. An employer might only be deemed to be vicariously liable for injuries resulting from the action of another employee if that employee was acting in the course of their employment.
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