When an Employer sends his employees to work at another’s premises he cannot evade all responsibility for the safety of his workers at the other’s premises. It is the employer’s duty to take reasonable precautions to avoid exposing his employees to unnecessary risks and thus preventing potential injury from occurring. What would be considered reasonable precautions depends on all the circumstances of the matter, and it changes the case of the incident.
This was the question posed to the Honorable Judge Mr. Achsan Knaan of the Nazareth Court (case 6630-06) and decided on October 14, 2012 as follows.
The Defendant:
A Personnel Company (“Chevrat Koach Adam”)
The Accident:
The Plaintiff filed a claim against the Defendants for bodily injuries caused in a work related accident where the plaintiff was sent to work at another premise (third party). The task was to unpack heavy wood stacks on the third floor of a concrete building which was under construction. The plaintiff was holding on to a concrete pillar when his hand suddenly slipped and he fell from the third floor suffering injury all over his body.
The Judge’s decision and rationale:
The Judge found the employer guilty of negligence, stating that: “A Personnel Company that sends its employees to other work locations is required to make sure that the workplace has proper safety measures in place.”
Even if the workplace where the employee is sent to work (at the third party’s premises) is not controlled by the employer but by someone else, from a practical aspect it’s still the employer’s duty to undertake reasonable precautions to protect the employee against the risks that he knew or should have known about the existence of potential danger.
The plaintiff was granted 160,000 shekels in compensation in addition to more than 40,000 in legal expenses.
A personal touch:
As you now understand, the reasonable person is requested not to “predict” the future but to understand that he is sending his employees to work in a different environment where he, the employer, has no direct control, therefore the only “control” he has is not to send the employee to work in a dangerous place.
Personally I have a very hard time with this conclusion. I think we are asking too much from the employer and we are not handing any responsibility to the employee who is the person on the premises and the best person to evaluate the situation and decide whether or not to report a potentially hazardous condition to his employer in order to make a mutual decision.
We are all responsible:
Israel is unfortunately at the top of the list regarding workplace accidents and mostly due to pure negligence of the parties involved and I am not only talking about the employer and the employee but the entire system that is supposed to monitor the safety of the employees at the workplace.
There are many laws and regulations to safeguard the employees’ health and safety conditions. The problem is the poor implementation of the laws combined with almost nonexistent “preventive education” in the Israeli Society.
Conclusion:
It’s up to you to be careful, open your eyes and monitor the work conditions and your safety in order to be able to return home at the end of the day safe and sound to your family.
