Specialised legislation affecting occupational safety advisers

5 Specialised legislation affecting occupational safety advisers 

The responsibility of occupiers of land to those who enter the premises is to be found in fhe Occupier s Liability Acts of 1957 and 1984. The 1957 Act covers both tortious and contractual liability. The basic obligation is that the occupier owes a common duty of care to see that the premises are reasonably safe for fhe purpose for which the visitor has been permitted to enter (s. 2). It is possible, of course, for any contract that may exist between the occupier and the visitor to state a higher duty of care than that of s. 2. But under the Act it was possible for the occupier to exclude this basic duty by a suitably worded exclusion clause in a contract or by a nohce (Ashdown v. Samuel Williams Sons ). But the Unfair Contract Terms Act 

The Occupier s Liability Act 1984 makes two important changes to the law. The original Act made no reference to the duty of an occupier to a trespasser. T4ie courts were left to evolve their own rules to cater for this category of person. 

Section 1 of the 1984 Act states that an occupier owes a duty to take such care as is reasonable in the circumstances for the safety of a trespasser if he is aware or should have been aware of the existence of the danger and if he knows or should know fhaf a frespasser may come within the vicinity of the danger. 

Section 2 of the Act makes a change to the Unfair Contract Terms Act so that where an occupier allows someone to enter his business premises for purposes tiiat are recreational or educational and not connected with the business itself tiien the occupier may rely on die use of an appropriately worded exclusion clause or notice. 

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