An employer's system of repainting anti-slip treatment on metal staircases at three-monthly intervals was held to be a reasonable maintenance system. The absence of expert evidence that chequer-plate steel is inherently slippery, combined with evidence from multiple regular users that the stairs were not slippery, was fatal to the plaintiff's case. Evidence of what occurred during a judicial view should not be permitted to be called after the event, as this would risk the judge becoming a witness of fact.
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