 and reasonable to impose a duty. This focuses on public policy and whether imposing a duty would benefit society or not in that it could be too costly for public services or prevent them from doing their jobs out of fear of being sued. For example Hill v West Yorkshire police where it was held that the police owe a duty to the general public and not specific individuals.
Explain the meaning of breach of duty
Lord Alderson in Blyth v Birmingham Waterworks described negligence as doing something the reasonable man would not do or failing to do something that the reasonable man would do. The reasonable man is held to have an ordinary level of skill and knowledge and this is the standard of care that must be met. However, if you are a professional then you have to display the level of skill and expertise of the profession you are holding yourself out to be (Bolam v Friern hospital). Learners are expected to meet the standard of a qualified person as illustrated in Nettleship v Weston (learner driver).
The judges look at the following factors in deciding if someone has not acted as a reasonable man: how risky was the activity? The higher the risk then the more precautions you need to take and the lower the risk then less precautions are needed, thus in Bolton v Stone it was held that erecting a fence was an adequate precaution given that the cricket ball had only been hit out of the ground 6 times in 25 years. However, if there is a low chance of the risk materialising but if it does then a high potential of serious injury then extra precautions should be taken as in Paris v Stepney where the employee had lost sight in one eye but was not supplied with goggles and ended up being blinded. The judges will also weigh up the cost of precautions and will not expect excessive costs to be taken although this will be according to the circumstances, thus in Latimer v AEC it was held that putting sawdust on the factory floor was an adequate precaution as otherwise the factory would have to close down. Other considerations are whether the activity is socially useful (Watts v Hertfordshire CC).
Explain whether the breach caused the damage
For factual causation the question is but for the omission of the defendant would the damage have occurred. If the answer is yes then the D is not the factual cause as in Barnet v Chelsea and Kensington Hospital where even if the doctor had seen the patient he would still have died from the arsenic poisoning. Where there is more than one cause of the outcome then it must be proven that it is an actual cause and not just a possible cause so the junior doctor in Wilsher was held not to have caused the baby’s blindness as it was only one of six possible causes.
Explain whether the damage was not too remote (ie reasonably foreseeable)
The damage must not be too remote in that the type of damage must be reasonable foreseeable. In Wagon Mound it was held the damage was too remote as the sequence of events were not reasonably foreseeable i.e. that welder sparks would ignite a piece of cotton which would blow in the wind and land on some oil and then set it on fire. However, in Hughes v Lord Advocate it was held that as the type of damage was reasonably foreseeable (getting injured by a paraffin lamp) it did not matter if the sequence of events was not. The thin skull rule means that you are responsible for all the consequences of the damage on the person injured as in Smith v Leech Brain where an employee was burnt on the lip with molten metal which triggered a latent cancer from which he died. The factory was liable for the entire extent of the injuries.