{"id":6403,"date":"2018-03-07T09:27:01","date_gmt":"2018-03-07T09:27:01","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2019-06-21T14:45:36","modified_gmt":"2019-06-21T14:45:36","slug":"vacwell-v-bdh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lawteacher.net\/cases\/vacwell-v-bdh.php","title":{"rendered":"Vacwell Engineering Co v BDH Chemicals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vacwell Engineering Co v BDH Chemicals Ltd. [1971] 1 QB 88<\/strong><\/p>\n

Law of Tort \u2013 Remoteness of Damage \u2013 Foreseeability \u2013 Property Damage \u2013 Duty of Care<\/p>\n

Facts<\/strong><\/p>\n

The defendant, BDH Chemicals Ltd, supplied the complainant with chemicals contained in glass ampoules. This had a label stating \u2018harmful vapour\u2019 on it. When the scientists were washing off the labels, one of the containers shattered and this caused a violent explosion to occur. It was the chemical coming into contact with water that caused severe damage, including killing one of the scientists, blowing the roof off the laboratory and shattering surrounding walls.<\/p>\n

Issues<\/strong><\/p>\n

The issues in this case concerned whether the defendant was liable for unforeseeable damage that was caused by the explosion of the chemicals they had supplied to the complainant. <\/p>\n

Held<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was held that the defendant was negligent and failed in their duty of reasonable care, as they did not give sufficient warnings about the chemicals they were marketing to their customers, including the complainant. A label that only said \u2018harmful vapour\u2019 was not enough to properly warn of its explosive reaction with water. A manufacturer should maintain a proper system that investigates and researches potential hazards associated with their products before they are sold, in order to inform customers of these hazards. In this case, it does not matter that the damage was more extensive that could be foreseen; only the kind of damage has to be foreseeable. Thus, it was irrelevant to claim that the property damage was unforeseeable and the defendant must be held liable for all damage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The defendant, BDH Chemicals Ltd, supplied the complainant with chemicals contained in glass ampoules. This had a label stating \u2018harmful vapour\u2019 on it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85],"class_list":["post-6403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cases","tag-uk-law"],"yoast_head":"\nVacwell Engineering Co v BDH Chemicals | LawTeacher.net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The defendant, BDH Chemicals Ltd, supplied the complainant with chemicals contained in glass ampoules. 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