Company can be held liable for worker's suicide

Law Lords dismissed an appeal brought by IBC Vehicles Ltd of Luton, and upheld a Court of Appeal judgement of March 2006 - that the company could be held liable for the death of Thomas Corr.

Rowley Ashworth, solicitors for Thomas Corr's widow Eileen, explained how in 1996 Mr Corr was disfigured as a result of a workplace accident when he was hit on the head by a metal panel as a result of defective machinery almost decapitating him. He later suffered from unsteadiness, severe headaches and had trouble sleeping.

In addition, Mr Corr became bad tempered and severely depressed, ultimately committing suicide by jumping from a multi-storey car park in May 2002. Mrs Corr went to the High Court in April 2005 to sue for damages for pain and suffering and consequential loss caused by the industrial accident and subsequent suicide.

IBC Vehicles Ltd admitted liability for the workplace accident, but successfully argued that Mr Corr’s suicide fell outside of its duty of care - that it had not been an act that had been reasonably foreseeable and was not, therefore, one for which it could be held liable.

Mrs Corr appealed, and the Court of Appeal overturned the decision of the High Court. IBC Vehicles Ltd subsequently appealed to the House of Lords, which confirmed that the company could be held liable for Mr Corr's suicide.

Lord Bingham said: "It is in no way unfair to hold the employer responsible for this dire consequence of its breach of duty, although it could well be thought unfair to the victim not to do so."

Work-related suicide

The trade union backed 'Hazards' magazine this week claimed that work-related suicides could be killing more people than workplace accidents.

Its report, 'Crying shame', said that around 5,000 people of working age committed suicide every year in Britain. In Japan - where work-related suicide or 'karojisatsu' was an officially recognised and compensated occupational condition – research had suggested that 5% of all suicides were "company related".

This would equate to more than 250 deaths a year if applied in the UK, which was more than died in workplace accidents in 2006-2007.

The report also speculated that the problem of work-related suicides could be getting worse. Figures released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in November 2007 showed a sharp upturn in cases of work-related stress, depression or anxiety, it said.

The total affected had risen to 530,000 in 2006/07 from 420,000 the previous year. In addition, the number of new cases reported in HSE's Labour Force Survey (LFS) analysis was up by 1,000 cases a week, to 242,000.

The Hazards report included a dossier of work-related suicide cases in sectors including education, manufacturing, the health service and fast food.