Employers have:
- a common law 'duty of care' towards workers
- specific rules they must follow under health and safety law
This means employers must do all they reasonably can to protect workers' health, safety and wellbeing at work.
This could include:
- providing a safe working environment
- doing risk assessments and taking action based on what they find
- doing everything they reasonably can to protect workers from discrimination and bullying
- taking steps to help prevent work-related stress
Examples of how an employer might breach their duty of care include:
- pressuring workers to work excessive hours
- failing to provide the right training or equipment for carrying out work safely
- allowing staff to work who are unwell or do not have the right training – they could put themselves or others in danger
If an employer breaches their duty of care
There is no standalone legal claim called 'breach of duty of care'.
However, there are likely to be other legal claims for situations where the employer breaches this duty. For example:
- claims where the employer has failed to protect a worker from discrimination, for example, not taking reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment at work
- breach of contract
- constructive dismissal – where someone resigns because the breach is so serious they do not feel they can continue working for their employer
Breach of contract and constructive dismissal
Only those with the legal status of employee can make claims for breach of contract and constructive dismissal.
Someone is not likely to be an employee if they're:
- an agency worker
- a casual worker
- on a zero-hours contract
An employee cannot make a breach of contract claim while they're still employed. But they can make a claim to county court in England and Wales or sheriff court in Scotland.
If a worker notices a health and safety risk
If a worker identifies a health and safety risk at work, they should:
- speak to their employer
- follow any procedure their organisation has for reporting these
- speak to a health and safety representative at work if they have any questions
Employees can also report health and safety issues to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) or their local authority if:
- they've raised the issue with their employer
- their employer has not responded or taken any action
You can:
- find out about reporting a health and safety issue on the Health and Safety Executive website
- contact the Acas helpline, if you're unsure who to report health and safety issues to
Detriment relating to health and safety
An employer must not cause a worker 'detriment' because they:
- reasonably believe being at work or doing certain tasks would put them in serious and imminent danger
- take reasonable steps over a health and safety issue, for example complaining about unsafe working conditions
- inform their employer about a health and safety issue in an appropriate way
Detriment means someone experiences one or both of the following:
- being treated worse than before
- having your situation made worse
Examples of detriment could be:
- an employer reduces someone's hours
- experiencing bullying
- experiencing harassment
- an employer turns down someone's training requests without good reason
- someone is overlooked for promotions or development opportunities
Workers are also protected if they whistleblow about health and safety. Find out more about whistleblowing at work.
Contact the Acas helpline
If you have any questions about the duty of care, you can contact the Acas helpline.