Statutory duty against employer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 3

Statutory duty against employer - Essay Example The case of Wilsons & Clyde Coal Company v English3 established the implied basic duties that employers owe their employees, the breach of which entitles the latter to award of damages in an action for tort on the broad ground of negligence. These duties are: selection of competent staff that had the benefit of proper training; proper and suitable plant; proper and fit place of work, and; safe system of work. The aforecited duties are deemed primary liability of employers. In McDermid v Nash Dredging and Reclamation Co Ltd,4 the Court awarded compensation to the claimant, employee of the therein defendant, who was injured whilst performing his functions as a deckhand on a tug, owned by a Dutch company working in the dredging operations with the defendant company. The tug captain, who was employed by the Dutch company, carelessly mishandled the tug movement resulting in the injuries sustained by the claimant. The Court sided with the claimant notwithstanding that the injuries was caus ed by the tug captain, who was not under its employ, on the ground that the responsibility to keep a safe system of work was its personal responsibility and therefore, non-delegable. An action for breach of statutory duties necessarily requires that the employer has breached a provision of a statute or law. An equally important consideration in this action is the determination that the statute itself contemplates granting the claimant a right to a civil action. An action for breach of statutory duties necessarily requires.