Pengelley v Bell Punch Co Ltd (1964)

The Factories Act 1961 s.28(1), requiring floors to be "kept free from any obstruction", does not forbid the storage of things on the floor, but requires only that things properly there must not constitute a source of risk to people ordinarily using the place. The plaintiff employee sued the factory owner for damages for breach of s.28(1) for injuries sustained when leaning over large reels of paper stored on the floor in front of some racks to reach a small reel stored on the racks. Reels had been stored in this way for many years without mishap.

Held, that the action failed.

At a factory reels of paper awaiting use were stored in racks; larger reels were, and had for many years been, stored in a double line on the floor immediately in front of the racks so that they stood out twenty inches…