[2008] UKHL 73

In proceedings brought under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 s.2(1) and s.3(1), the prosecution only had to prove that the result described in those sections had not been achieved or prevented. A prima facie case of breach had then been established, unless the defendant could make good the reasonable practicability defence. Prosecutors had to do more than simply assert that a state of affairs existed, but they did not have to identify and prove specific breaches of duty; the overriding test was whether or not defendants had been given fair notice of the claim against them.

HL (Lord Hoffmann, Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Scott of Foscote, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury)

10/12/2008