Also known as: active operation
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Conduct by which an actor has created a force or series of forces that remain in continuous and active operation up to the moment of harm.
A freight company operates remote-controlled locomotives through an unlit yard at night. Albert Allen regularly crosses the yard as a trespasser to reach a store. The operator backs a locomotive through the area without sounding a horn and strikes Albert. Because the company was engaged in active operations, it owed Albert a duty of reasonable care even though he was a trespasser. The failure to warn supports liability for the resulting injury.
EcoFill runs bulldozers to compact trash at its landfill. The manager knows Aisha Ahmed regularly enters through a fence gap to scavenge. An operator pushes a trash mound into that zone without checking for people and buries Aisha. The bulldozing constitutes active operations that required reasonable precautions once the company knew of the trespasser. The lack of any check before moving material supports a finding that the company breached its duty.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
The city stores sand piles in a public works yard. Workers have repeatedly seen children climb the fence and play there. Operator Lopez begins loading gravel with a front-end loader without checking the piles and buries eight-year-old Alexis Archer. The loading is an active operation conducted with knowledge of likely trespassers. The failure to take precautions such as using a spotter supports liability for the child's injuries.
The duty applies when the possessor knows or has reason to know that trespassers are present or likely to be present in the area of the operations. Once that knowledge exists, the possessor must conduct the activities with reasonable care to avoid creating new risks of harm.
Supporting sources
Active operations involve affirmative ongoing conduct such as running machinery or moving materials. Passive conditions are static features like unguarded pits or concealed drop-offs. The duty of reasonable care toward trespassers arises only for the former once their presence is known or foreseeable.
Supporting sources
No. When workers or the possessor have repeatedly observed trespassers in the specific area of the operations, that pattern supplies reason to know of their presence. The duty then requires precautions tailored to the known risk before continuing the activity.
Supporting sources
…safety has led to a retreat from this position, and an exception to the general rule limiting liability has been made as to active operations where an obligation to exercise reasonable care for the protection of the licensee has been imposed on the occupier of land. ( Oettinger v. Stewart , supra , 24 Cal.2d 133, 138-139…