Where a supermarket operator is aware of a wet floor hazard and has deployed warning signs, the duty of care may require the additional precaution of stationing an employee near the hazard to warn customers who are not looking at the floor, particularly where the hazard is temporary and the burden of stationing an employee is minimal. Sections 5G and 5H of the Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) regarding obvious risk do not apply where the occupier has itself deployed warning signs, as this constitutes an acceptance that the risk is not obvious. A trial judge who proposes to draw inferences from courtroom observations of a plaintiff's physical presentation must alert counsel and afford an opportunity to address the matter, failing which procedural unfairness arises. Where conflicting medical reports are tendered without cross-examination, the consequence of the resulting uncertainty falls on the party bearing the onus of proof.
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