Duty of care

Duty of care seems to be the phrase of the moment.

Whether it is employees, drivers on company business, pedestrians, other road users or simply drivers the duty of care responsibilities become greater by the week. The latest warning has come from Trend Tracker in a report called The Car Body Repair Market in the UK.

The duty of care issue that they are addressing is that of ensuring that crash repairs have been carried out to a standard that does not compromise the repaired car's crash worthiness. The report claims that as a result of a serious skills gap bodyshops cannot deal with the increasingly complex construction of cars.

This can lead to sub standard repairs which puts many at risk not only of a serious accident but prosecution under the Health and Safety at Work Act or the potentially tougher act to be introduced later this year the Corporate Manslaughter Bill.

Injuries can be sustained by drivers, passengers and third parties as a result of poor repairs with the employer responsible if the car was damaged in a previous accident and not repaired up to acceptable safety standards.

The suggestion, which has infuriated the bodyshop industry, is that to ensure safety standards repairs should be carried out by carmakers' approved bodyshops.