OCCUPIERS’ LIABILITY AND THE CONSTRUCTION (HEALTH, SAFETY AND WELFARE) REGULATIONS 1996

Michael Moon v Paul James Garrett and Ors [2006] EWCA Civ 1121, 28 July 2006

Rachel Kapila

In Michael Moon v Paul James Garrett and Ors [2006] EWCA Civ 1121, 28 July 2006, the Court of Appeal declined to interfere with the decision of a trial judge that an occupier carrying out construction work at his home was liable, both under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 and in negligence, for injuries sustained by a delivery driver in a fall at the premises. The court held that a common sense approach should be adopted in such cases and that the trial judge is in the best position to evaluate the danger posed by the premises and to make an assessment as to the reasonable care which should have been exercised by the occupier in the circumstances. In addition, the view was expressed, obiter, that the occupier would also have been liable under the Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996. Lord Justice Waller stated that, in determining who is protected by the Regulations, the phrase ‘person at work’ in regulation 3(1) should not be confined to ‘construction workers’ as such, but should extend to persons involved in any activity ‘arising out of or in connection with construction work’. This would have encompassed the delivery driver in the present case.