Invitees

Invitees is a person who enters premises with the permission or on the authority of the occupier. There are 2 categories of invitees which are legally authorized entrants & business visitors. Legally authorized entrants are only for those enters the premises on the authority of the law such as policeman, fireman or a meter-readers. In case of Shamsuddin v Yap Teh & Anor, due to emergency & political problems the government requested that use of explosives for blasting operations at a particular quarry to be monitored by the police. One of the policemen who was on duty at that quarry was injured when a splinter from an explosion hit his eye. The court held that the policemen to be an invitee & a duty of care was owed to him so that he would not be injured by a negligent method of detonating the explosives. The D contractor was found liable.

Meanwhile, business visitors are those who enter premises (public or private), for a materialistic reason & who actually bring economic advantages to the occupier, such as a customer at a supermarket, a guest at a hotel, a motorist at a patrol station, a customer at a bank or an employee at his place of work. In the case Indermaur v Dames, the court held that this was an unusual danger which was in fact known to the D & even though the P as an invitee must take reasonable care of his own safety, an occupier must reasonably avoid any damage that could arises from an extraordinary danger that is known to him, or ought to have been known to him. Related case: Takong Tabari v GOS & Ors.

Duty of invitee to another invitee.
A person who, although not an occupier of the premises, creates danger to person who are expected to enter those premises, owes a duty to ensure that the entrants are not injured while on the premises. In the case Ng Shin Hon v Chow Wai Chuang, the P's engineers who was responsible for the inspection of the D's contractor work, suffered injury when he walked into a trench in the ground covered by metal sheets. The court held that the trench was dug without the plaintiff instruction & so he had no knowledge about it. The contractor was under a duty to take reasonable care to prevent damage to person who he may reasonably expected to be affected, whether they be invitees, licensees or other contractors. Thus an occupier, based on the case Indermaur v Dames, he will liable to an invitee who suffers any injury or damage to property if the following factors were established, which are:
(i) if the occupier knows or ought to be known of the danger
(ii) the danger is unusual to that class of P in the sense that the danger is not usually found in carrying out the task, but if the danger is usual, D is not liable based on the case: Lee Lau & Sons Reality Sdn Bhd v Tan Yah & Ors. (forklift case)
(iii) the danger is not known to the P
(iv) the occupier has failed to reasonably avoid the damage from occuring, be it trough notice, warning, lights, guarding or others.-:>