Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations
[ch 2: page 20]Under Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (Management Regulations), employers must: consider the risks to employees (including the risk of reasonably foreseeable violence); decide how significant these risks are; decide what to do to prevent or control the risks; and develop a clear management plan to achieve this. The process of risk assessment is described in the next chapter (see page 28).
In Collins v First Quench Retailing Ltd, 31 January 2003, Court of Session [2003] GWD126, an employee won a personal injury compensation case after the off-licence she managed was robbed. Mrs Collins sued on the basis that her employers were at fault for failing to provide her with adequate protection from such an attack under the Management Regulations. Although the term “risk assessment” was not mentioned in the judgment, the judge considered what the risk was and, effectively, what control measures should have been in place.