What is a master’s duty towards his servant?

But it is also a master’s duty towards his servant to protect him in the course of his employment against injury from dangers of which the master knew or of which he ought to have known: Baker v. James [1921] 2 K.B. 674, 90 L.J.K.B. 1190. It would seem, therefore, that the first question left with the jury by the learned Judge, namely, as to whether the deceased was a servant or an independent contractor, was a needless one, since the legal duty which the members of the defendant board owed him, under the circumstances of this case, was exactly the same whichever he was.