Sites must be safe environments even for intruders

DID YOU know that if an intruder, such as a burglar, a protestor or someone intent on committing an act of terror, breaches the perimeter of an industrial plant and equipment site and then injures themselves (or worse), the site owners or operators are wide open to a potential claim for damages or even being prosecuted, which could result in a custodial sentence if found guilty for negligence in a court of law?

On the face of it, it sounds crazy, but there is some longstanding and robust legislation in place to protect trespassers who break into sites - and owners have been prosecuted in cases where there is proof of negligence. 

This is why, at a time when commercial crime could rise, it's more important than ever that site owners remind themselves of the law and the measures they need to ensure are in place.

The law

The Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 requires the occupier to ensure that visitors will be safe in using the premises for the purposes for which they are invited or permitted by the occupier to be there. The Occupiers’ Liability Act 1984 introduced a duty of care for trespassers.

Under this Act, the occupier has a duty of care for trespassers where the occupier is aware of the danger, knows or has reasonable grounds to believe that the other person will be near the danger, and ought to reasonably think about providing some protection to the other person. This could be as hazardous as construction work being carried out on site or as innocuous as damage to a perimeter fence that could cause injury to a person as they breach the site at that point.

A common duty of care

The most obvious proof of a common duty of care is a structured framework of compliance with health and safety legislation and other workplace directives - which is qualified by measures including compliance audits and up-to-date risk assessments.

Risk assessments must cover all eventualities for the premises, including the workplace activities carried out on site; the personnel, visitors and traffic on site; emergencies; and even trespassers. Risk assessments should identify the controls required, particularly the information that everyone needs to ensure their safety.

Why servicing and maintenance are key 

One of the easiest ways to ensure a duty of care is to make sure that all equipment is serviced and maintained on a regular basis, usually annually, in line with the original equipment manufacturer's (OEM) recommendations. This applies as much to entrance control systems, such as gates, barriers and turnstiles, as it does to site machinery, such as forklifts.

Regular servicing and maintenance not only help access control systems to work correctly and safely but also ensure compliance with all current regulations and standards. This provides real peace of mind for site owners and operators.

Graham England is UK installation manager at Heras

For more information:

www.heras.co.uk

Tel: 0808 164 2250