The duty of care is a general legal duty on all individuals and organisations to avoid carelessly causing injury to persons. It has been developed by the courts over many years. The duty is regardless of the size of the organisation, its income or whether the organisation has paid staff. If your organisation asks a volunteer to do a task which results in them injuring themselves or anyone else, the members of the governing body may be liable. No matter what activities your organisation is involved in, from running a major hospital trust to organising day trips to the seaside, you will have to consider the duty of care owed to your volunteers.
Liability depends on establishing that the organisation failed to take reasonable care.
He or she sustained an eye injury. Your organisation could be held liable if you failed to train or supervise the volunteer in the safe use of the shredding machine. The court may decide that leaving an inexperienced young person in charge of a machine unsupervised is unreasonable. The notion of duty of care needs to be considered in all aspects of an organisation's work and activities. The law also imposes further responsibilities on you as an employer with regard to people not in your employment, such as volunteers and other members of the public, who may be affected by your work activities.