Interestingly (?), Wikipedia gives a definition(ish) of Duty of Care as follows....
Could this be the basis for an ATC 'definition'??
In tort law, a duty of care is a legal obligation imposed on an individual requiring that they exercise a reasonable standard of care while performing any acts that could forseeably harm others. For an action in negligence, there must be an identified duty of care in law.
Duty of care may be considered a formalisation of the implicit responsibilities held by an individual towards another individual within society. It is not a requirement that a duty of care be defined by law, but it will often evolve through the jurisprudence of common law.
Individuals who are considered to be professionals within society are often held to a higher standard of care than those who are not. Engineers and doctors will be held to reasonable standards for members of their profession, rather than those of the general public in cases related to their fields.
Breach of duty of care, if resulting in an injury, may subject an individual to liability in tort. Duty of care is an important prerequisite in the tort of negligence, as the duty of care must exist and must have been breached for the tort to occur.
Examples
Duty of care is evident between drivers of automobiles on the road. Each individual driver owes a duty of care to each other to prevent accidents and drive in a reasonable manner. In the case of an automobile accident, drivers not paying attention or driving irresponsibly will have breached that duty of care.
Manufacturers owe a duty of care to consumers who ultimately purchase and use the products. In the case of Donoghue v. Stevenson [1932] AC 562 of the House of Lords, Lord Atkin stated:
My Lords, if your Lordships accept the view that this pleading discloses a relevant cause of action you will be affirming the proposition that by Scots and English law alike a manufacturer of products, which he sells in such a form as to show that he intends them to reach the ultimate consumer in the form in which they left him with no reasonable possibility of intermediate examination, and with the knowledge that the absence of reasonable care in the preparation or putting up of the products will result in an injury to the consumer’s life or property, owes a duty to the consumer to take that reasonable care.