When are occupiers in breach of their duty of care? The advantages of a systematic test

Abstract

AbstractSixty years have passed since occupiers in England and Wales were placed under a statutory duty to keep visitors to occupied premises reasonably safe. The legislation, however, did not detail the exact operation of this duty of care. The case law, expected to fill in the gaps, has arguably developed without sufficient consistency and/or predictability. This apparent confusion can be remedied through applying a systematic test to the question of whether a breach of duty has occurred. The test follows the verification that the case falls within the field of occupiers’ liability because of the presence of a danger attributable to the state of the premises. It consists of three consecutive stages which ask: (1) whether the risk of injury was foreseeable; (2) whether the occupier could reasonably have been expected to have addressed this very particular risk; and (3) whether any remedial action the occupier actually took was appropriate.