Duty of care - gritting the yard?

[Ginge Crosby]

Very recently i've been told by several people that if you were to grit your yard (or road, or path, or wherever), and someone slips and falls, you would be liable/potentially be sued because by gritting you may have caused the fall. Is there any truth in this? I always thought that YM/YO's had a duty of care towards anyone on their property to minimise the risk of injury. To me, that includes laying grit in icy conditions. I don't grit the whole yard, but I do grit a path from where the cars are parked to the stables, from the tack and feedroom, and across the front of the stables so that we can safely walk the horses either to the field or the school and turnout pen. So far none of the liveries have complained, slipped or fallen over, and a couple have told me they're amazed that the yard is managing to run pretty much as normal considering the conditions. I doubt that any would decide to sue should an accident occur, but still, we do have the odd outsider on the yard (people viewing horses, people coming for lessons etc), does anyone know the legalities behind this?

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

If you are the YO (which you seem to be) then a quick check with your insurance co regarding this would be best as they would be the ones picking up any tab if you did get sued for anything.

Quite a number of posts on the subject tho in the past week or more

 

[foraday]

No that is rubbish!!!

The yard should by law have a health and safety policy which would have been written with the risk assessment again required by insurers for public and employers and yard insurance.

Tescos for example grit!

The councils grit!

Your yard manager should be displaying the risk assessment for ice on the yard! She/he should be gritting twice a day ie morning and night.

And this is their all singing and all dancing cover! It they then have the pot of grit/salt available to everyone saying 'if you see ice please cover it with grit'

Everyone has a responsibility to Health and safety!

By putting grit bins fully available saying help yourself to put on ice on the yard they are covering every eventuality!

So if someone falls and then the investigation finds YO has gritted yard twice a day which is acceptable AND made grit freely available and notices to boot to encourage people to put the grit down then no court in the land can find the YO at fault as they have done EVERYTHING possible in the circumstances!

But burying their heads in the muck heap hoping that no one falls over as they dare not step outside themselves is not an answer and should someone fall or a horse fall then the YO is liable under the Health and Safety Act 1975!

Good luck!

Take your own!!!!

 

[Ginge Crosby]

YM - will check with the YO re- insurance, but i'd probably get a quicker answer off here

 

[Love]

I was told that its if you clear the snow not grit - if you clear snow from say the path outside your house and someone slips (say if it re-ices) then you are liable however if you leave it as it is and they slip you're not liable. Don't quote me on this though!

 

[Goldenstar]

I aggree you should be laying grit and or salt.
We don't use grit we salt it's a private yard so it's grooms I am worrying about but I clear snow twice sometimes three times daily and then put down salt the whole liability thing is a bit misunderstood you need to have taken reasonable precautions but what a reasonable precaution is the not set in stone anywhere.
On a regular basis I go round the yard trying to see things with a fresh set of eyes and make small changes all the time but the fact you can not manage away all risk with horses yards snow etc etc.
Its a worry.

 

[riding_high]

on the local news tonight they were talking about this in a report so the news readers asked the council and other people about clearing the snow and ice off your pavement, if you did it and someone slipped then could you be sued. the answer was no you can't be and they are encouraging people to clear the paths outside your home and if possible do a bit on the road outside your house if on an ungritted street.

 

[Ginge Crosby]

on the local news tonight they were talking about this in a report so the news readers asked the council and other people about clearing the snow and ice off your pavement, if you did it and someone slipped then could you be sued. the answer was no you can't be and they are encouraging people to clear the paths outside your home and if possible do a bit on the road outside your house if on an ungritted street.

Thats good to hear. I won't stop what i'm doing then This all came about because one of the liveries was gritting the hill on the way to the yard (its a lane which the council doesn't grit), someone stopped and told her off because she could cause an accident if it's not done properly apparently. Have also been told by a few others a similar thing.

Foraday, I am the YM. I've only recently taken over so haven't had a chance to go over this with the YO. I grit the yard at least twice a day. I print off a weather report which shows if its going to freeze at night every day, so we all avoid using the hose uneccessarily or chucking water buckets over the yard. I have my own horse on the yard too, and I personally don't want him slipping over and breaking a leg. I'm out on the yard at 7am, 10am, 1pm, 5pm and 9pm either doing my own horse, full liveries, riding or doing the night check, so not sure what your last para was about. I don't make grit readily available to the other liveries, the yard is run on a very tight budget as profit margins are so slim, so I need to make sure that the grit is being used effectively. I also make sure I do enough of a good job that they don't need to lay any more grit. I don't grit the whole yard, but I do clear obvious paths to all the areas that liveries and myself use (as I stated in my OP).

 

[Lotty]

Our yard is lethal, it's like an ice rink!

 

[MerrySherryRider]

I've never been on a yard that puts grit down. It would be lovely, but I chuck the bedding down to get the horses out and then clear it up immediately afterwards.

Grit would be luxury, but no one complains.


FWIW, today supermarket carparks and paths to the store were like an ice rink. They do put down a large mat just outside the doors to help stop slipping once inside though.

There is a lot of confusion over H&S leading to some rather unrealistic expectations and so far, councils are not gritting every pavement in case someone falls over.