WORKERS WIN RIGHT TO CHALLENGE EMPLOYERS

Injured workers can now take civil action against employers who fail to carry out risk assessments, following a six-year campaign initiated by the FBU firefighters' union.

The UK government has been forced by the European Commission to change the law which banned workers from taking civil legal action against employers who failed to comply with the risk assessment requirements of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations.

The FBU started the campaign to change the law because of frustration with fire authorities that were refusing to undertake risk assessments in the 1990s. The union believes that the death of Tayside firefighter Roderick Nicolson in 1995, who was killed whilst rescuing two men trapped in a silo, can be blamed on the failure of the fire authority to carry out a risk assessment.

Dave Patton, FBU National Health & Safety Officer, said: "When the truth came out about our member's death in Tayside and we discovered the Government had not complied with the European Directive in 1993, we commissioned Thompsons Solicitors to act on our behalf and began a campaign within the European Commission."

The TUC believes that this change will motivate employers to carry out risk assessments and will make it easier for people to win compensation where their employer had not assessed risks which led to injury or illness.