Cases - McDermid v Nash Dredging Ltd

Record details

Name

McDermid v Nash Dredging Ltd

Date

[1987]

Citation

3 W.L.R 212

Legislation

Legal Aid Act 1974

Keywords

Contract administration

Summary

In this shipping case, the House of Lords held that an employer was not entitled to delegate its duty to take reasonable care to devise a safe system of work and to see that it was operated, notwithstanding that the system that they had devised was being implemented by a third party tug-boat owner.

In the same way, it is thought that an employer or main contractor would not escape liability for his duty of care to his contractor or subcontractor simply because he had appointed a contract administrator or architect to oversee the implementation of a safe working system. That does not mean that the contract administrator would necessarily escape liability. He may be liable to the employer by way of contribution.