Employer's Liability Flashcards
(12 cards)
Which duty is NOT part of an employer’s common-law duty of care?
A. To provide a safe system of work
B. To provide safe premises and plant
C. To provide personal medical care to employees
D. To provide competent staff and supervision
C. To provide personal medical care to employees.
Explanation: Employers must provide safe systems, premises, equipment, and competent staff, but are not obligated to deliver medical treatment
What test determines whether an employer’s risk assessment is adequate?
A. Reasonable foreseeability of harm
B. Contractual promise in the employment contract
C. Employee consent
D. Industry custom only
A. Reasonable foreseeability of harm.
Explanation: The employer must identify foreseeable risks and take steps a reasonable employer would to eliminate or control them
Which case laid down the general common-law duty to provide a safe system of work?
A. Wilsons & Clyde Coal Co v English
B. Donoghue v Stevenson
C. Paris v Stepney Borough Council
D. Caparo Industries v Dickman
A. Wilsons & Clyde Coal Co v English.
Explanation: This leading case established that employers owe employees a non-delegable duty to provide a safe system of work
When is an employer liable for injury caused by an employee’s lack of skill?
A. If the employer failed to ensure staff competence or training
B. If the employee’s act was wholly independent of employment
C. Only if the employer personally instructed the unsafe act
D. Never—employee errors are solely the employee’s fault
A. If the employer failed to ensure staff competence or training.
Explanation: Employers must select competent employees and provide adequate training and supervision; failure leads to liability
A factory owner knows a machine guard is missing but delays fitting a replacement. A worker’s hand is injured. Who is liable?
A. The machine manufacturer only
B. The worker, for getting too close
C. The factory owner, for failing to maintain a safe system of work
D. No one—accidents happen
C. The factory owner, for failing to maintain a safe system of work.
Explanation: Ignoring a known hazard breaches the employer’s duty to provide safe plant and a safe system of work
An employer supplies ladders without instructing on proper use. An employee falls. On what basis is the employer liable?
A. Vicarious liability
B. Negligent provision of unsafe equipment
C. Breach of warranty of fitness
D. Misrepresentation
B. Negligent provision of unsafe equipment.
Explanation: Employers must provide safe tools and training; failure to instruct on safe use breaches their duty
A new recruit is assigned a complex machine without supervision and injures herself. Which element of primary liability applies?
A. Duty to insure employees
B. Duty to provide competent supervision
C. Duty to delegate work to contractors
D. Duty to provide rest breaks
B. Duty to provide competent supervision.
Explanation: Employers must supervise and train inexperienced staff to ensure they can operate machinery safely; failure to do so breaches the duty to provide a safe system of work
During adverse weather, an employer fails to clear ice from a yard. An employee slips and fractures a leg. Which principle is breached?
A. Duty to provide a safe place of work
B. Duty to provide personal protective equipment only
C. Duty to provide rest breaks
D. Duty to pay for medical treatment
A. Duty to provide a safe place of work.
Explanation: Employers must maintain premises in safe condition, including clearing known hazards like ice
Which defence may an employer use against a primary liability claim?
A. Employee’s obvious fault in provoking the danger
B. Employee’s consent to the risk (volenti)
C. Lack of statutory duty
D. That the employee signed an employment contract
D. That the employee signed an employment contract.
Explanation: A contract signature does not exclude the employer’s non-delegable duty; volenti may apply but a contract alone is not a defense
How does contributory negligence affect an employer’s primary liability?
A. It has no effect—employer always 100% liable
B. It reduces damages proportionally to the employee’s fault
C. It converts the claim to breach of contract
D. It bars recovery entirely
B. It reduces damages proportionally to the employee’s fault.
Explanation: Where the employee’s own negligence contributed, damages may be apportioned under the Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act
What is the effect of an employer delegating maintenance work to a competent contractor?
A. Employer always remains liable under primary duty
B. Employer is never liable thereafter
C. Employer liable only if selection of contractor was negligent
D. Employer liable only for vicarious liability
C. Employer liable only if selection of contractor was negligent.
Explanation: Delegation to a competent contractor shields the employer unless they failed to take reasonable care in choosing or supervising that contractor
Which scenario would most likely fail to establish primary liability?
A. Employer ignored a known chemical hazard
B. Employer provided clear training but the employee ignored it
C. Employer failed to inspect faulty scaffolding
D. Employer failed to carry out a risk assessment
B. Employer provided clear training but the employee ignored it.
Explanation: If an employer has properly identified risks, provided training and safe systems, and the employee then flagrantly disregards them, the employer’s duty is normally satisfied and primary liability will not arise
