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Cloisters chambers Stress at work

This episode of the Law Report focuses on stress at work, what the common law says and whether there is any statutory support. This is an intermediate level course.



Stress at work first became recognised during the 1970s, although the first successful stress at work case, Walker and Northumberland County Council, was not until 1994.

The Health and Safety Executive brought out guidance for employers in 1995, but there was no real guidance for judges until 2002 when the Court of Appeal came up with 16 practical propositions of law from the four cases considered under the auspices of Hatton v Sutherland County Council. Further judgements have developed this area of law, in particular Barber v Somerset County Council, which set out who has responsibility for highlighting problems with stress at work.

The government recently published a green paper consultation on personal injury damages, but has shied away a Law Commission recommendation for statutory intervention. So, for the immediate future, the judges remain the arbiter in this key interface between employment and personal injury law.

The information in this podcast represented the legal position when it was recorded on 28/08/2007

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Aims and Outcomes

This podcast explores the continuing problem of stress at work, what the law says about what’s unacceptable, remedies and when they can be used.

It will be useful for any lawyers wanting to understand more about this area of the law, in particular the interface with employment law.

The interview lasts for 29 minutes. It will take you a further 20 minutes to complete the questionnaire. You will need to get 50 per cent of the questions right to gain your CPD.

Learning outcomes

After listening to the interview, you will understand:

  • The common law and statutory framework for stress at work cases
  • The implications of key cases and the “Hatton principles” set out by the Court of Appeal
  • Foreseeability, burden of proof
  • Health and safety guidance
  • Risk factors, risk assessment and risk management in stress at work cases
  • The link with the Working Time Regulations
  • The link with the Protection from Harassment Act
  • The link with constructive and unfair dismissal
  • Employment Tribunal vs Common Law jurisdiction
  • The tests for proving a stress at work case and “winability”
Andrew Buchan
Andrew Buchan

Andrew Buchan was called to the Bar in 1981 and practices from Cloisters chambers. His areas of practice are clinical negligence, personal injury, employment law, European law and environment law. He is also a mediator accredited by CEDR (the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution) and lectures widely on occupational stress and bullying claims.

He has specialised in personal injury since 1984. He was junior counsel in the case of Walker v Northumberland County Council, the first successful claim for stress at work. He successfully took the two leading cases on bullying and stress to the House of Lords: Waters v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis [House of Lords] 2000 (bullying at work) and Barber v Somerset CC (stress at work). He is currently conducting a number of Francovich claims against the UK for failing to implement community health and safety law.

In the employment sphere, Andrew works on the Working Time Directive and Regulations 1998. In the Sayers case he argued that these Regulations should give rise to civil liability at common law. He was instructed to intervene on behalf of the NUT (on questions of European law) in the case of Eastwood v Magnox (House of Lords, jurisdiction of the Employment Tribunal to deal with personal injury claims). He took Sheriff v Klyne Tugs (Lowestoft) Ltd to the Court of Appeal in 1999 (jurisdiction of employment tribunal for personal injury cases).

He is a member of the Personal Injuries Bar Association, where he was on the executive from 1995 to 2005, the Professional Negligence Bar Association, the Employment Law Bar Association, and a Bar Council member from 1995 to 2003.

His cases include:

His publications and articles include:

  • Stress Cases: Foreseeability and Breach [2001] J.P.I.L. p.5
  • Stress at Work: How has the law and practice developed since the practical propositions set out in Hatton v. Sutherland? [2007] J.P.I.L. [in print]
  • Editor and co-author of the Butterworths publication Personal Injury Practice: The guide to litigation in the County Court and the High Court, 4th Edition (December 2003)
  • Co-author of Personal Injury Schedules, Calculating Damages, 2nd edition 2005, Tottle Publishers.