Ask a Solicitor: Injuries on a farm following contractor work

The fact that the accident happened on your land does not automatically mean that you, as landowner, are legally responsible.

A contractor carrying out works generally owes a duty to complete those works with reasonable skill and care and to leave the area in a reasonably safe condition.

Dear Karen,

I engaged a contractor earlier this year to carry out drainage works on part of my farm. The works involved excavating a number of trenches and installing underground drainage pipes in a field close to one of our farm roadways.