September 8, 2014
On 24 July, the European Court of Human Rights announced its judgment in Brincat and Others v. Malta (the Brincat case).[1] This case was the result of 21 applications of former workers of the public ship repair yard exposed to asbestos. The Government of Malta was held responsible for breaching its positive obligations to protect the rights to life and the right to respect for private life. A violation of the right to life was found where the death of the employee was the result of exposure to asbestos. Where employees had suffered from different diseases, the Court found a violation of the right to respect for private and family life.
Brincat is a landmark case for Occupational Health in all the countries of the Council of Europe. For the first time, the Court found violations of two rights deduced from articles 2 and 8 that are fundamental to this sphere: the right to access information concerning risks the employee is exposed to and the right to protection from dangerous industrial activities. The reasoning of the Court in this case is particularly interesting. Compared to other “occupational health” cases, even if there have not been many of them,[2] the Court develops the content of the positive obligation of protection from dangerous activities and of the positive obligation to provide information about risks. It also uses a very curious reasoning in finding whether the Government of Malta knew or ought to have known about the danger of asbestos.
We’ll say more about this development and illustrate the concretization of the Court’s approach to matters that are closely connected to Occupational Health.
