Expert Witness: OH risks abroad

Protecting an employee’s health as a justification for discrimination: foreign postings

Summary:

Diana Kloss explains why employers may be justified in refusing to send a disabled employee abroad based on risks to their health and safety.

Where an employer is planning to send a worker to a foreign country in the course of their employment, they will have to perform a risk assessment and take reasonable care to ensure that they are reasonably safe while travelling abroad. Although the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSW Act) does not extend outside the UK (other than offshore installations), the common law duty of care applies wherever the worker is based. This may involve arranging for necessary vaccinations and immunisations, providing them with drugs and equipment, warning them about health risks and different social customs, and about potentially hazardous weather conditions and how to take precautions.

In some countries, workers may be at risk of criminal activity, so they need to be housed in compounds protected by security personnel, and provided with protection when they travel…

 

Diana Kloss is a barrister, former part-time employment judge, Acas arbitrator and author.

Author: Kloss D

Tags case law hsw - health and safety at work act law travel health

Occupational Health at Work August/September 2023 (vol. 20/2) pp38-40

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