Home owner responsible for death on his property

A HOME owner has been ordered to pay $70,000 in compensation to the widow of an electrician who died after working in his roof.

The decision, handed down in the District Court would surprise many property owners ignorant of their responsibilities, a legal expert has told the Herald.

.......... rest at http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/home-owner-responsible-for-death-on-his-property-20100308-psv4.html
Your household Insurance Policy indemnify the householder for situations like this. If the householder has used a qualified plumber to do the decommissioning, then I do wonder how he could be declared at fault, unless the plumber told him he had to get an electrician in to finish the work, and the householder refused to do so. It has to be a case of negligence by the householder, and not just 'bad luck'
 
The actual case is Giovenco v Dick [2010] NSWDC 4
and the full judgment can be found online here

Thanks for the citation of the case. I had a quick read and believe the judgement to be reasonable.

A home owner owes a duty of care to all occupiers of their premises, including repairmen. In this case the owner was only apportioned 20% of the $350,000 liability with the plumber being held liable for the balance. I think it is a resonable expectation that a redundant solar water system has it's electrical source disconnected to prevent such injuries.
 
i agree to, that the judgement was correct. when the old solar was decommissioned it should have been competely removed from the premises and hence all wiring and plumbing would have been removed at the same time.

also a huge reminder to ensure you have a safety switch on your powerboard. my electrician nearly killed himself trying to sort out the mess of rewiring the current reno ... extremely fortunate that the safety switch jumped in and saved him as there was no one else in the house at the time and, if he'd been zapped, no one to call for help or apply cpr. disconcerting in hindsight.

one wonders if there had been safety switches installed whether those insulation installers would have survived?
 
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