Jump to content

Talk:Edwards v National Coal Board

Page contents not supported in other languages.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Great disproportion vs. Gross disproportion

[edit]

Since 2008, the the quote from Asquith on this page has said "a great disproportion between them", citing a post on the Safety Photos website.[1] However, the quote on the ALARP page says "a gross disproportion between them", citing a (now archived) law casebook on an Oxford University website.[2]

The distinction is important because the Edwards v NCB case appears to have given rise to the "gross disproportion" test for reasonable practicability, as described in the UK Health and Safety Executive's R2P2 document.[3] This is significant in UK Health and Safety practice for determining compliance with duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 to reduce risk "so far as is reasonably practicable". Although R2P2 doesn't actually quote the judgement, the prevalence of the "gross disproportion" wording in R2P2 and other HSE documentation implies the quote here may well be wrong. The "gross disproportion" theory is also supported by the Oxford document referenced previously, and some other web articles, e.g. on Croner-i.[4] However, "great disproportion" is now widely quoted elsewhere on the web (often cited as being quoted from this Wikipedia article).

Can anyone provide a more authoritative reference, or ideally check what the definitive legal reference actually says: Edwards v The National Coal Board [1949] 1 All ER 743 CA?

JRI (talk) 22:04, 16 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

There is a very early citation in Law Notes (1949), issue 5 May 1949, p101, available here:
https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/lwnts68&i=133
It states:
'Edwards v. National Coal Board (207 L. T. 203; (1949) W. N. 167; (1949), 1 All E.R. 743
...if there were a *gross disproportion* between them...' [Emphasis is mine] EatenByBlahaj (talk) 14:19, 25 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

References

  1. ^ Safety Photo Account of the case 15 December 2017
  2. ^ Edwards v. National Coal Board. Archived 10 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine (1949) All ER 743 (CA)
  3. ^ Reducing risks, protecting people: HSE’s decision-making process (PDF). Sudbury: HSE Books. 2001. pp. 62–63. ISBN 978-0717621514.
  4. ^ "What does ALARP mean, in the real world?". Croner-i. 27 February 2013. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
Retrieved from "https://wiki.riteme.site/w/index.php?title=Talk:Edwards_v_National_Coal_Board&oldid=1253348459"