Tort

In a prosecution under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, the risk that the prosecution has to prove must be real, not fanciful or hypothetical. There is no objective standard or test by which a line can be drawn which will be applicable to every case.

However, most cases will have important factors which the jury will be obliged to take into account in deciding whether or not the risk was real or fanciful. None was determinative, but many were of importance. While the fact that an accident was unavoidable goes primarily to the reasonable practicability of measures which the defendant might have to take, rather than to the risk to safety, it does not do so exclusively.

Risk that is part of everyday incidents of life goes to the issue of whether or not an injured person was exposed to risk by the conduct of the defendant’s operation. Where the risk is truly part of the incident of everyday life, it is less likely that