HL Deb 23 June 1972 vol 332 cc561-3

2.26 p.m.

LORD WINDLESHAM rose to move, That the Draft Employer's Liability (Defective Equipment and Compulsory Insurance) (Northern Ireland) Order, 1972, laid before the House on June 5, be approved. The noble Lord said: My Lords, I beg to move the second Order standing in my name on the Order Paper. The purpose of this Order is strictly limited. It is simply to introduce in Northern Ireland the arrangements covering defective equipment and compulsory insurance which exist in Great Britain as a consequence of the passing of two Private Members' Bills at Westminster in 1969. In scope and impact these arrangements will be identical with those already in operation in the rest of Great Britain. That is the principle upon which the Order has been constructed.

The Order follows closely a Bill introduced in the Northern Ireland Senate, which had passed its Committee stage without amendment, before the Northern Ireland Parliament was prorogued. It was well received by the Senate and it has been supported by the representative employer and trade union interests which were consulted while the Bill was in preparation. The Order will provide pro- tection for Northern Ireland workers on the same basis as that available to workers in Great Britain under the Employer's Liability (Defective Equipment) Act 1969 and the Employer's Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969—the two Private Members' measures to which I referred a moment ago.

This Order therefore has a dual purpose. First of all, it will make Northern Ireland employers responsible to their employees for injury caused by defective equipment, even though the defect is attributable to the fault of a third party—for example, the manufacturer or supplier. In future, the employer will have to pay the compensation and may then in turn take action to recover from the third party. This is a change from the existing position where the employee's right of recourse in respect of a latent defect has normally lain against the third party. This Order will transfer primary responsibility to the actual employer of the person injured.

The other major change that will be effected under this Order is that employers will be required to maintain insurance against liability for 'injury or disease sustained by employees arising out of and in the course of their employment. When employees make a claim against an employer for damages at Common Law or breach of statutory duty they will thus be assured that their claim can be met and that they will not find themselves proceeding against men of straw and consequently, unable to secure their full legal rights. In practice, most employers, I understand, are already covered for this kind of risk, but the Order will make it compulsory. It will have the effect of ensuring that employers are never found without sufficient means to meet the claims against them. My Lords, I beg to move.

Moved, That the Draft Employer's Liability (Defective Equipment and Compulsory Insurance) (Northern Ireland) Order 1972, laid before the House on June 5, be approved.—(Lord Windlesham.)

LORD BESWICK

My Lords, may I thank the noble Lord for explaining this Order? There was one point that occurred to me, but I think that probably the answer to my question is contained in Article 4, which I intended to query. I wanted to ask whether the third party referred to in sub-paragraph (1)(b) of Article 4 could include an individual who was acting out of malice—for instance, one of the individuals in Northern Ireland who sets out to damage equipment or property. If a person was deliberately making a piece of equipment dangerous, would he be a third party in that sense, or are the provisions of paragraph (3) of Article 4 worded in order to exclude that kind of deliberate fault?

LORD WINDLESHAM

My Lords, by those mysterious processes about which we know nothing in this House, I am informed that the answer to the noble Lord's question is, "Yes".

On Question, Motion agreed to.