The Woolf reforms

Reforms to the civil claims procedures proposed by Lord Woolf were adopted on 26 April 1999. These were designed to ensure that courts deal with claims justly and quickly, and the resulting Civil Procedure Rules constitute probably the most far-reaching single set of changes in the administration of civil justice. At the time of writing it remains to be seen what effect the introduction of the Human Rights Act will have on the reforms and the system as a whole. 

The system requires an active response from lawyers and employers, rather than allowing lengthy delays to develop and costs to mount up. A further small but important change is that the injured party is now known as the claimant, not as the plaintiff. 

This Act is the major piece of health and safety legislation in Great Britain. It provides the legal framework to promote, stimulate and encourage high standards. 

The Act introduced for the first time a comprehensive and Integrated system dealing with workplace health and safety and the protection of the public from work activities. By placing duties of a general character upon employers, employees, the self-employed, manufacturers, designers and importers of work equipment and materials, the protection of the law, rights and responsibilities are available and given to all at work. 

An enabling Act, much of the text is devoted to the legal machinery for creating administrative bodies, combining others and detailing new powers of inspection and enforcement. The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) carries responsibility for policy-making and enforcement, answerable to the Secretary of State for the Environment. 

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As mentioned earlier the legal system in England and Wales changed dramatically with the introduction of the Woolf reforms in 1999. These reforms apply to injury claims. This date was feared by many because of the uncertainty and the fact that the pre-action protocols were very demanding. 

Finally, one of the objectives of the book is to provide a handbook for the use of any person who has health and safety as part of their responsibilities. We thought that it would be helpful, therefore, to add a few useful topics that are outside the syllabus. These include managing occupational road risks (Chapter 11), fast track settlement of compensation claims following the Woolfe reforms (Chapter 18) and demolition using explosives (Chapter 10). 

The landscape of civil actions for personal injury was transformed with the introduction of the Woolf reforms and the new Civil Procedure Rules on 26 April 1999. The first phase was the introduction of a unified code of civil procedure applicable to all civil coiuts thereby eliminating some of the unnecessary distinctions between Coimty Court and High Court procedure. 

Civil Procedures Rules 1998 (emerging from the Access to Civil Justice Report by Lord Woolf - known as the Woolf Reforms), The Stationery Office, London (1998)... 

Martin Luther, De capticitate Babylonica ecdesiae praeludium (1520), [in ] Martin Luther Studienausgabe (2nd ed., Berlin, 1982), 175-209. Translated in Bertram Lee Woolf (ed.), The Reformation Writings of Martin Luther (London Lutterworth Press, 1952), 1, 230. 

Lutber, Martin] Bertram Lee Woolf (ed.). The Reformation Writings of Martin Luther, 1 (London Lutterworth Press, 1952). 

In 1999 all the Rules governing the conduct of litigation, contained in what is known as the White Book, were revised when the new Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) were introduced xmder Lord Woolf s reforms. 

Conflict in safety can arise when there is a different perception of hazards between the management, employees and their representatives, and/or the enforcement officers. It can also arise from slowness to address and resolve safety issues. Another cause is the perceived allocation of liability or civil liability when injury occurs. The adversarial nature of the litigation process is not conducive to the pragmatic allocation of liability and can cause resentment in both the claimant and the defendant This situation may be amended by the reforms brought in as a result of the report by Lord Woolf. ... 

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