No strict liability for injury

Smith v Northamptonshire County Council CA TLR 24 March

The claimant was a carer/driver employed by the defendants. She collected a client in a wheelchair from her home and when pushing the chair down a ramp installed there by the NHS, stepped on the edge, which gave way. The trial judge held that reg 5(1) of the Provisions and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 imposed strict liability on the council for maintaining the ramp as work equipment for use at work.