Edwards v National Coal Board

Decided cases - those cases in which, as part of a judgement, a word or phrase that is part of a law is defined, i.e. the meaning is decided. Once a meaning is decided, it applies to all laws. A good example is the phrase so far as is reasonably practicable which was defined in a mining case in 1949. [Edwards v. National Coal Board (1949) 1 AUER 743)... 

The majority of the duties in the Health and Safety at Work Act are qualified by these phrases. What do they mean Unlike many other terms they are not defined by aity of the relevant statutory provisions but have come to acquire their now accepted meaning through decisions in the courts. Practicable is usually taken as meaning that which is physically possible in the light of current knowledge and invention 6 what of reasonably practicable Clearly this cannot be such a strict standard as that denoted by the word practicable (or all practicable steps or best practicable means). The conrmoirly accepted definition is that found in the judgemeirt of Lord Asquith in the case of Edwards V National Coal Board ([1949] 1 KB 704) ... 

Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC562 Edwards v National Coal Board [1949] 1 KB 704 Elton John v Richard James (1985) (unrcported)... 

The duties of employers, thus well established in common law, became encoded in criminal law in the 1974 Act where these duties are applied to the extent that is reasonably practicable. The meaning of this pluase was summarised in a common law case by Lord Asquith in his judgement in Edwards v. National Coal Board. He said ... 

Having identified the hazards and assessed the risks tire action needed to prevent injury and harm should be agreed with the manager and operators of the area concerned and implement. While nothing can be absolutely and unequivocally safe and free from risk, the aim must be to achieve, so far as is reasonably practicable (see Edwards v. National Coal Board ), a standard that reduces risks to a minimum whilst maintaining the viability of the process. 

A duty qualified by the term so far as is reasonably practicable implies a lower or lesser level of duty than one which is qualified by so far as is practicable. Reasonably practicable is a narrower term, and implies that a computation must be made in which the quantum or risk is set against the sacrifice involved in the measures necessary for averting that risk. If it can be shown that there is a gross disproportion between these two factors, i.e. the risk being insignificant in relation to the sacrifice, then a defendant discharges the onus upon himself Edwards v National Coal Board [1949]) 1 AER 743]. All duties under HSWA are qualified by the term so far as is reasonably practicable. ... 

This is the most common level of duty in health and safety law and was defined by Judge Asquith in Edwards V. the National Coal Board (1949) as follows ... 

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