379 / 424
GAZETTE
N O V E M B ER
1995
; and Sons Ltd
v
Dumbreck
([1929] AC
358), and in
Donovan v Landy's Ltd
([1963] IR 441). In determining what is
i reckless it would appear that these old
precedents which had been rendered
obsolete by
McNamara,
will now be
revisited for their pronouncement on
what the law considered to be
"reckless". The 1995 Act does, however,
make this search somewhat easier in that
at S4 (2) it identifies certain factors
which a court will take into account in
determining what is or is not reckless.
The third new category.under the Act is
that of "recreational users", and these are
classified in terms of standard of care,
with trespassers. It can be said therefore,
that persons who are categorised as
invitees and licensees benefit from the
new Act in so far as their position is now
clarified and the standard applicable to
them is raised from the common law
standard to that of reasonable care. The
courts will not have to grapple with the
concept of "unusual dangers" and
"concealed dangers", or with the
distinction between actual knowledge
and constructive knowledge. Secondly,
it is fair to conclude that trespassers
under the new Act lose out in so far as
the standard owed to them now is much
less than it was under the
McNamara
rule. Thirdly, "recreational users" also
lose out in so far as such persons under
the pre 1995 situation might have
expected in many cases to be classified
as licensees, or if they were deemed to
be trespassers they would be entitled to
reasonable care if they were foreseeable.
Finally, because the occupier can now
modify his obligations to lawful visitors,
the concept of notices will become more
important from the occupiers' point of
view. If the occupier wishes to avail of
| such modification he must show that
the modification is a reasonable one,
but in this connection reasonableness
will be assumed if the notice is
prominently displayed at reasonable
points of the property.
In conclusion the changes brought about
by the Occupiers' Liability Act 1995 do
not totally insulate occupiers from being
sued by persons who are injured on their
property. Certainly it may make
recovery more difficult in some cases,
but the risk, although smaller, still
remains. This factor alone means that
both occupiers and persons exposed to
injury still need to consider insuring
! themselves to guarantee full peace of
mind. In the case of occupiers this
means Public Liability Insurance and in
the case of "visitors" and "recreational
users" it may involve personal
insurance. In fact if the insurance option
had been more fully availed of by both
occupiers and visitors, the legislative
amendments contained in the
Occupiers' Liability Act 1995 might not
How would you like to have to get
down on your knees to open your
front door? How would you like to
have to carry a bag full of mail
and then bend down to a letter box
at the bottom of a door in order to
deliver the mail every day of
the week?
An Post ask that if keyholes are not at
the bottom of the door, why put a
letter box there? It does not save
money and makes little or no sense.
"Low letter boxes in doors are a
growing concern for An Post delivery
staff. Badly placed letter boxes can
have a detrimental effect on the health
and safety of staff delivering the mail.
It means that you have to bend down
virtually to the ground level while
carrying a bag of mail, in order to
place letters in the boxes," said
Michael McCabe,
Manager in An Post
Letters Division.
"The Standard Specification ISI 195
: was drawn up by the Irish Institute for
I Industrial Research and Standards in
1976 which recommended a standard
height for letter boxes in doors
should be 1700mm from ground
if you are standing outside the door.
: In other words the letter box
should be in the centre of the door"
he explained.
"We are contacting the appropriate
bodies to ask them to stop the practice
of fitting low letter boxes in doors.
There are no extra costs involved in
putting the letter box in the middle of
i the door. It only takes a little
have been necessary in the first instance.
*This article was commissioned by the
Parliamentary Committee.
*Professor Bryan M.E. McMahon, Law
Faculty, University College Galway, and
of the firm, Houlihan McMahon, 9/10/11
Bindon Street, Ennis, County Clare.
a Health Hazard
Postman Christy Lacey begins his
morning
delivery in Dublin. He balances his full bag of
mail while bending to reach the letterbox. A
large estate of similar halldoors
with low
letterboxes lies ahead.
consideration for those who have to
use it. We are confident that those
affiliated to organisations and
associations including the
Construction Industry Federation,
Home Builders Association, door and
porch manufacturers and importers
will take on board these standards
when designing, purchasing and
fitting doors as well as the Royal
Institute of Architects of Ireland who
design and plan houses and solicitors
who negotiate the purchase of new
homes," Michael said.
A special information leaflet is
available from An Post highlighting
the standard specifications for the
letter boxes.
Low Letter Boxes