Occupier Liability Act 1957

OLA 57

Governs the duty owed by occupiers to lawful visitors

It imposes a duty of care

Occupier

Someone who has control of the premise

Wheat v Lacon

Held that there can be more than one occupier

Visitor

Can be invitee, licensee, contract or statutory right

Premises

‘Any fixed or moveable structure, including any vessel, vehicle or aircraft’

E.g. houses, lift, vehicle

S2(1)

Duty of care is needed to all visitors

S2(2)

Occupiers must take reasonable care to ensure reasonable safety

S.2(3)

There should be extra care for children to protect them from allurments

Glasgow Corp v Taylor

Where D was liable as they were aware of the danger and didn’t take extra care.

S.2(3)(b)

An occupier owes a duty of care to tradesmen

Roles v Nathan

Held that the occupier was not liable as O could expect D to be aware of the danger

S.2(4)

Occupier owes a duty of care to visitors

3 requirements must be satisfied for occupier not to be liable

-reasonable for D to pass work to contractor

-Contractor must be competent

-occupier must take reasonable care to check if the work has done properly

Haseldine v Daw

D wasn’t liable as they were highly specialist and was reasonable for D not to check the work.

Defences

-Contributory negligence

-Volenti

-S.2(4) warning notice as shown in Rae v Mars where D was found NL as the danger was obvious