Employees who injure themselves by “doing something dumb” could be stripped of the right to claim damages if their bosses have taken “sensible” precautions, according to the Justice Secretary.
Chris Grayling was speaking to the Telegraph as ministers prepared to debate his new Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Bill.
Mr Grayling said the proposed laws, which would make it harder for lawyers to win cases in the courts, were designed to “slay the health and safety culture”.
“It is about trying to restore common sense to the kind of situations which happen all too often and very seldom get to court – where somebody has an accident at work, it’s entirely their own fault, they have got a perfectly responsible employer who has the normal health and safety procedures in place but that person does something dumb, hurts themselves and sues the employer anyway,” he explained.
“For responsible small businesses it is a real headache and most of the time they just pay up because it is less hassle to do so. This is meant to be a big message to them because if you do the right thing, we are making sure that the balance of the law is in your favour.”
Legal firms “trying to get you to claim”
Mr Grayling believed that many small business owners were deterred from hiring new staff as they feared bearing the weight of additional legal liabilities.
He said that legal firms and agencies were fuelling the culture by attempting to persuade members of the public to sue over minor accidents,
“There is an industry out there that’s trying to get you to claim,” stated the Justice Secretary.
“I think generally speaking we have become a society where people are more willing to have a go, where there’s marketing to encourage them, and I think perhaps too little inclination to say ‘it was me that messed that up’. We are a bit of a society that is a bit too inclined to blame someone else.”
Trade unions have raised concerns about the Bill’s potential impact on employees hurt at work.
Mr Grayling batted back the concerns, insisting that unions had “too much of an inclination to chase every opportunity” when it came to winning payouts for their members.
“My message to the trade unions would be we are fortunate in our society that we have some of the safest workplaces in the world – that’s clearly a good thing and we shouldn’t compromise on health and safety standards.
“We should certainly go after the people who are the health and safety rogues,” he added.
“But if we overdo the regulation and make people liable for things where common sense says they have got no responsibility then you just have fewer people in jobs and that can’t be right.”
The Bill was announced in the Queen’s Speech last month.
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