There was something a few years back involving St John Ambulance.

Not case law per se, but prosecution of Prince's Trust http://www.independent.c...over-deaths-1187188.html

Bob Interested in anything more you find out or if anyone has some insider knowledge as I am looking at this area too... The limited views I have so far come from volunteering UK and ... Just basically saying if you have 100% voluntary staff apart from a general duty the rest doesn't apply. If however you have a mix of paid and voluntary staff then the same rules apply to both...which is generally more about employment law than H&S. But yes it is very complicated..

I see the basics as these if an employer has a tree cut down by an employee or a volunteer and it kills the person cutting it on its way down it does not matter what their status was when they cut the tree down as somebody will be dead and the person who had the tree cut down received a gain from its cutting down so owes a duty to the person who cut it down [mutuality of obligation or similar] for them so there are liabilities and U cannot go to court in the UK [at least not yet] and say to a judge 'well it was only a volunteer who died so it does not matter" I can see lots of £ being made in the future by lawyers and the like in these areas

Great views and some of the thoughts here indicate just how complicated the issue is - I am working with legal specialists on this and even they find the going hard as well NB: The HSE has not been helpful especially where volunteers are not part of formal charities and similar which is just the areas we are looking at Its an area we may all have to face/manage in the future as more and more people are being made redundant and volunteers [inclusive of children and similar vulnerable people] are being used to do their work albeit its not being called a 'work' activity Its took > a thousand years to get civilised however its taking only a few years to go back to the dark ages!

Just off to visit a religious charity with no employees. Volunteers are engaged in heavy construction work and have just suffered their second fatality in 3 years (both falls from height). This one may well come down to "insurer requirements" and I don't care what the HSE says.

Wellllll, do we really need a specific piece of legislation to establish that a "body" has a degree of responsibility for a volunteer? Even in the absence of statutory requirements if there is seem form of "body" or organisation that is controlling the volunteering then it is highly likely that a court would decide that there was civil liability. And if one was looking for guidance on how to manage risk then why not look at duties owed to employees as a guide for what must be done: e.g. training, risk assessments, PPE, supervision etc etc. As regards RayR's comment the HSE line seems to be that volunteers are not regarded as employees UNLESS the organisation is an employer. How many charitable organisations are there that do not employ a single persons? http://www.hse.gov.uk/event-safety/volunteers.htm So, seeking advice of insurer is good start and following existing H&S law as a guide on what to do seems a good approach - certainly a "best practice" approach..!! Phil

Thanks again for all the thoughts expressed And this is indeed a very complicated area especially where charities are NOT involved and the issue of who controls who is very very grey with the HSE still playing politics over the issue of volunteers especially where volunteers are not under the wing of a charity

In a recent criminal case, the charity Love and Joy Ministries Ltd was fined £65,000 + £135,000 costs after breach of Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. This was following the death of a volunteer at Liverpool Lighthouse Church and arts venue in 2010. One of the church members was a builder and he took on the work at height without ever using a harness. He took the job as being paid for labour only. He worked with the volunteer - another member of the congregation - who subsequently fell to his death. In addition to the charity fine, the builder was sentenced to 33 weeks imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, ordered to complete 125 hours unpaid work and pay £1,500 towards the Enforcing Authority's costs. He was charged under Section 3(2) of the HSAW Act 1974. Details can be found on: www.shponline.co.uk '£200,000 and a suspended prison sentence after volunteer falls to his death' - 23rd April 2014. While not a civil case it highlights a series of errors regarding volunteer workers - and makes depressing reading. NigelB

It seems obvious to me voluntary workers should have rights but that was harsh considering how many people were prosecuted for train disasters.

http://www.thecourier.co...-s-saw-accident-1.332512

Interesting thread. My last four employers (including my current one) have been Charities, and in all cases we have regarded volunteers as employees for H&S purposes though not for any other area of employment law; the Prince's Trust case has been the driver for this approach. On the other hand when I wrote a safety statement for a small arts trust I am involved with, which has no employees, I just stuck to common law DOC as in my view HASAWA does not apply. It's a sticky area, John