An occupier who engages a specialist independent contractor is not required to warn the contractor's employees of defects that such specialists are accustomed to encountering and safeguarding against, even where the specific manifestation of the defect (here, water damage to internal shelving) may be unusual from the workers' perspective, if the danger was not reasonably foreseeable to the occupier. The occupier is not required to inform itself how the specialist contractor will perform its task or to conduct inspections less expert than those the contractor could itself conduct. The content of the occupier's duty of care must be assessed by reference to the reasonable response to the risk of harm, not by reference to the most expensive or comprehensive precaution.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 3 later cases that cite this judgment.
1 of the 3 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.