Such phrases covers a multitude of situations, which are to be found on land or water anywhere – but which have a special relevance for owners of quarries, pits, and mines – and for different reasons, waste disposal sites.
The Occupiers Liability Act 1984 may be statutory in its scope, but it is based in the rules of common law. It established that occupiers of land owe a duty of care to people on their property, including trespassers, to the extent that they must take reasonable steps to prevent such visitors from harm.
A case recently highlighted in the media involved cattle livestock in a field through which a public footpath ran. A lady pedestrian (with her dog) suffered the attention of cows protective of their calves. This form of live danger to visitors is ‘active’ even when it is unpredictable and one could say the danger ‘attacks’ the visitor. Visitors to airports are painfully aware of measures taken to protect them from harm.
More widespread and sinister in character are those inert dangers which ‘lurk’ quietly on land, inviting the foolish or the unwary to sample how dangerous they might be. Such dangers are lakes, ponds, quarry faces, pit silt lagoons, tipping areas. Sometimes the extent of the danger posed by these on land is only found as a result of combining them with the individual tempted to go to them.
Consideration and discussion of necessary action is a useful first step to responsible occupation.