How to use this site

The development and maintenance of this site have been funded by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). However, its contents, including any opinions and/or conclusions expressed, are those of the webmaster alone and do not necessarily reflect HSE policy. This site does not provide legal advice or seek to interpret the civil or criminal law. Visitors are strongly advised to consult a suitably qualified specialist for professional advice.

The cases summarised on this site can be listed by the date of the Judgments or by the name of the Claimants or by the name of the Defendants. Access to these listings can be obtained by clicking on Case Summaries above.

Clicking on By Date of Judgment takes you to a listing of cases in chronological order which shows when and where Judgment was given, who for and what type of work the Claimant was doing and the type of alleged injury. Clicking on the name of the Claimant takes you to a summary of the hearing(s) and (where available) a commentary on the case. Clicking again on the name of the Claimant takes you to a page with more details about the hearing.

Clicking on By Claimant takes you to a listing of Claimants in alphabetic order. Clicking on a particular Claimant takes you to a summary of the hearing(s) showing when and where Judgment was given, who for, what type of work the Claimant was doing and the type of alleged injury and (where available) a commentary on the case. Clicking on the Date of a hearing takes you to a page with more details about the hearing.

Clicking on By Defendant takes you to a listing of Defendants in alphabetic order. Clicking on a particular Defendant takes you to a summary of the hearing(s) showing when and where Judgment was given, who for, what type of work the Claimant was doing and the type of alleged injury and (where available) a commentary on the case. Clicking on the name of the Claimant takes you to a page with more details about the hearing.

There is a facility to Search the Database, which allows all the information held on all the cases to be searched for a particular name, word or phrase Free text search. However, the site can also be searched using a range of predefined search terms including: By task which can be used to search for particular types of task which have allegedly given rise to injury; By injury which can be used to search for a range of specific and non-specific conditions for which claimants have sought damages; By SOC which can be used for searching the occupations of claimants, based upon Standard Occupational Classification 2000; By SIC which can be used for searching the type of economic activities of the Defendants, based upon Standard Industry Classification 2007; By regulations which can be used to search for references in the Judgments to particular Health and Safety Regulations; and By guidance which can be used to search for references in the Judgments to guidance documents published by the Health and Safety Executive.

A number of Commentaries have been prepared that attempt to draw together some of the common themes and issues that arise in Judgments in personal injury claims for WRULDs and assist in placing individual Judgments in a broader context.

The information available on this site has been gathered from a wide variety of sources and verified where possible against a transcript of the Judgment. However, a transcript of a Judgment more often than not omits some of the information which ideally should be included in a case summary and there are sometimes also errors in the spelling of names. An Amend or add to this case facility has therefore been provided at the foot of each case summary which allows users to submit further details about a case. Please note that there is inevitably some delay between users submitting further details about a case and changes being made to the web pages. It is anticipated that the web pages will be updated at no less than monthly intervals.

A Comments facility has been provided, which allows users to send in any observations on the web pages or the research project.

It is believed that there are many other Court Judgments in this type of claim which have yet to be identified. Users are invited to send in details of cases which were decided on the basis of evidence heard in Court by completing a Case Report Form. Case report forms can be downloaded or completed on-line.

N.B. We are unable to provide copies of transcripts of Judgment