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31 July 2008 / Patrick Harrington KC , Gerard Forlin
Issue: 7332 / Categories: Features
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Child's play

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The Court of Appeal has refined the test of the meaning of risk, say Patrick Harrington QC and Gerard Forlin

R v Porter [2008] EWCA Crim 1271is is an important appeal decision reviewing the current legal test of “risk” under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA 1974). In essence, it states that there needs to be a real, as opposed to theoretical or fanciful, risk and whether the existence of a previous similar accident can be a relevant factor.

James Porter is the headmaster of Hillgrove School in North Wales. He has run the school since 1975; it is a very successful school currently educating children from the age of three plus to 16. Mr Porter is utterly dedicated to the pupils at the school; his first priority is their welfare; he is totally committed to their wellbeing. The school itself was not purpose built; it was initially a private house at the beginning of the 20th century and became a preparatory school in the 1930s.

The school has

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