Editing Workers' compensation (section)

=== Common law remedies ===
In common law nations, the system was motivated by an "unholy trinity" of tort defenses available to employers, including contributory negligence, assumption of risk, and the fellow servant rule.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Haupt|first=Mary Kati|date=2016|title=Workers' Compensation Law & the Remedial Waiver|url=https://lawpublications.barry.edu/barrylrev/vol21/iss2/4/|journal=Barry Law Review|language=en|volume=21|issue=2}}</ref>

Common law imposes obligations on employers to provide a safe workplace, provide safe tools, give warnings of dangers, provide adequate co-worker assistance (fit, trained, suitable "fellow servants") so that the worker is not overburdened, and promulgate and enforce safe work rules.<ref name="hood">J. Hood, B. Hardy, and L. Simpson. ''Workers' Compensation and Employee Protection Laws'' (St. Paul: West Academic Publishing, 2017).</ref>

Claims under the common law for worker injury are limited by three defenses afforded employers:

* The Fellow Servant Doctrine is that employer can be held harmless to the extent that injury was caused in whole or in part by a peer of the injured worker.
*Contributory negligence allows an employer to be held harmless to the extent that the injured employee failed to use adequate precautions required by ordinary prudence.
*Assumption of risk allows an employer to be held harmless to the extent the injured employee voluntarily accepted the risks associated with the work.<ref name="hood" />