Advice on responsibility for theft

[Megahertz456]

Hello there, grateful for any advice.

My company provides training courses in electrical safety. A couple of weeks ago I was booked to provide training for a company at their premises. It was a VERY hot day. We sent them a room layout plan, but the room was not really suitable, being upstairs in an industrial unit on a mezzanine floor with no windows, no ventilation and no air-con. I taught the course as well as I could but we did some of the course downstairs in a room which was a little cooler. During this time, someone walked into the building, unchallenged, went upstairs into the training room and stole my laptop. They took the case which contained my passport, various backup hard drives, memory sticks etc. Very annoying and very expensive.

The CCTV in the building had failed earlier that day (I'm pretty sure that was a co-incidence not related) but the client did managed to track down CCTV from other businesses in the area and identify the thief who went into several buildings in the area stealing credit cards, wallets etc, and also indentified the cards being used in local shops. I locked my Macbook remotely but it has not turned up as yet.

My question is, who is responsible for the theft? The client initially said that it would be their insurance that would cover it, but now they're saying that it should be ours. The trouble is, our insurance will only cover us if it's a 'violent' break in, in other words they break in through a locked door etc. Because it was such a hot day all the doors and windows in the place were wide open. My view is that if Im working at a client's premises (where that client is a company, not a member of the public) then they have a responsibility to provide a safe and secure environment. After the theft several of the staff members told me that the area was 'rife' for break-ins and burglaries, and to be fair this is one reason why the laptop case was in the training room upstairs and not locked in the van.

Should the client be responsible for providing a safe and secure environment? My expertise is in electrical safety and H&S law in general so I'm thinking of the Workplace regs etc, but is there any guidance or precedent that gives them responsibilty? Some of the places that I go to are red hot on security. This place didn't even ask me to sign a visitor's book.

Thanks in advance!

[atticus]

Was there a written contract between your company and its customer with terms and conditions that might cover this?

You may have a claim against your company for the loss of your property while on company business. If your company is uninsured, it will bear the loss unless it can pass liability on to the customer.

There is a strong argument that it was the responsibility of the customer to provide a safe and secure location and/or suitable warnings.

Is your property covered under your household insurance?

[Megahertz456]

Hello Atticus, thanks for the advice. There was nothing in the booking contract which mentioned safe and secure environment. In case it's not clear, I'm the Director of my company, and it is company property which was stolen. It might be covered under my household insurance, but I suspect that, as with the company policy, it would only cover me if the thief had broken in through a locked door etc.

I suspect my best bet might be to try and negotiate with the customer on the basis that they did not provide a safe and secure location for me, bearing in mind that all the doors and windows were wide open during the day, and they allowed a situation to occur where a member of the public could enter the building un-challenged and steal property.

I accept that, if I had been a plumber working in someone's house and I left my equipment unattended and it was stolen, then that would be my responsibility. But if I am working at a commercial premises I suspect that the owner of that business has a duty to provide a safe and secure location. I am sure that if I had slipped on a wet floor, or been hit on the head by an object, then I would have a claim against them; I was unsure whether they would have a responsibility to ensure that the premises were secure, or at least warn me not to leave anything unattended?

Thanks again

[dslippy]

You would have a claim for personal injury under Health and Safety legislation, but that does not apply to a theft.

Back to te basics of negligence - did he owe you a duty of care and were you contributarily negligent.