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Place of safety
[ch 2: page 23]Sections 44 and 100 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 are also relevant. These provisions state that a person must not suffer a detriment or be dismissed or made redundant for:
• raising health and safety concerns with the employer; or
• leaving or refusing to return to a place of work in circumstances of serious and imminent danger, or taking steps to protect themselves or others in these circumstances. “Circumstances of danger” include danger of violence from other employees and as the following case demonstrates, this could involve bullying behaviour:
Mr McCaffrey was employed as a machine minder on the night shift with one other person, Mr Huson. He had worked at the factory for less than three months when he complained about Huson to his employer. Huson found out and during the night shift he became abusive, shouting at McCaffrey and standing over him while he tried to ring his manager. McCaffrey was scared, did not feel safe at work and went home to ring his manager. He also spoke to a more senior manager and said he would not go back until the employer could provide some assurances about his safety.
The employer interviewed Huson and believed his version of events, treating McCaffrey as having resigned by walking out mid-shift and sending him his P45. In an employment tribunal claim, the tribunal ruled that McCaffrey had been unfairly dismissed for a health and safety reason — the risk of serious and imminent danger from a co-worker.
Harvest Press Limited v McCaffrey [1999] IRLR 778