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Seven Bedford Row
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Health and Safety

It is only relatively recently that health and safety law and practice has been seen as a separate sub-speciality of broader fields of practice, but in fact 7 Bedford Row's members have long been involved prominently in this area - from the prosecutions resulting in the late 1980s from the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster at Zeebrugge, to advising the Independent Police Complaints Commission in relation to sustainable criticisms of the Metropolitan Police arising out of the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell tube station in 2005 (leading eventually to successful prosecution of the Police in 2007 under section 3 of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974).

7 Bedford Row's combination of criminal and civil expertise as trial advocates produces barristers particularly well-suited to this area of practice - with knowledge and experience of defending and prosecuting in the criminal courts, and as names familiar to the institutional, corporate and insurer clients who regularly face - or fund the defence of - prosecutions.

Members of chambers practise regularly in this field, which is likely to expand with increased focus on such issues and with, for example, the advent of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007.

  • Product Liability
  • Criminal Injuries Compensation
  • Sporting Injuries
  • Inquests
  • Criminal Prosecutions under the Health and Safety at Work Act

Recent cases include:

Members of the personal injury team have appeared in many recent high-profile cases in both the House of Lords and the Court of Appeal including A v Hoare [2008] UKHL 6 (landmark House of lords decision on the limitation period in cases involving deliberate sexual assault); Smith v Northamptonshire County Council [2009] UKHL 27 (House of lords ruling on the construction of the PUWER); Cobham Hire Services v Eeles [2009] EWCA Civ 204 (Court of Appeal decision on interim payments in large claims); Peters v East Midlands SHA [2008] EWHC 778 (leading Court of Appeal decision on whether a claimant has the right to opt for self-funding of future care and accommodation in preference to reliance on the statutory obligations of a public authority); E H Humphries (Norton) Ltd v Fire Alarm Fabrication Services Ltd [2006] EWCA Civ 1496 (circumstances in which a duty of care arises from a contractor's right to supervise the work of a sub-contractor); Hawley v Luminar Leisure Plc & Ors [2006] EWCA Civ 30 (the application of the "control" test in transferred vicarious liability; the meaning of "accidental bodily injury" in public liability) and Lister v Hesley Hall Ltd [2001]UKHL 22 (the leading House of Lords authority on vicarious liability).

We have appeared in many leading cases involving abuse in local authority care and “failure to remove”. To learn more about our work in this niche area please select the Local Authority Liability link.

 

Members practising in this area: