Slips, Trips and Falls Compensation Claims

Simply being injured doesn’t mean you are eligible to claim personal injury compensation, you have to meet some criteria. You won’t have a valid claim if an accident was your fault, or – in most cases – if it happened more than 3 years ago. Your injury also needs to be of a certain severity.

The key to making a successful slip, trip or fall claim is being able to hold a third party responsible for your injuries, usually as a result of breaking health and safety rules. Shops, pubs and restaurants, local authorities and places of work all have a responsibility to ensure people’s safety under the occupier liability act. If such an organisation fails to minimise the risk of injury in their premises, for example by not repairing defects, cleaning up a spillage, erecting a hazard warning sign or removing a hazardous obstruction, they can be found liable to compensate the injured party.

Adverse weather conditions, poor lighting and unexpected obstacles can all have a role to play in such claims, but often the accident is ultimately due to negligence.

Slip and trip claims usually arise from injuries sustained after a fall on wet floors or uneven steps and surfaces. Some of the most common claims of this type are made by those who been injured after they have fallen in a shop or at work after rain, spillages or cleaning procedures that have made the floor slippery. Many other claimants are injured in public after slips on snow or ice, or tripping on uneven paths and potholes.

The comments at the bottom of this article will further help you to understand the wide range of scenarios involved.

The majority of slipping accident claims arise from a slip on a wet floor. Whether you’re at work, out shopping or in a restaurant, a wet floor presents a considerable risk of injury to people and those responsible for people’s safety on the premises should always take action to clean it up and warn people of the danger.

If there is water or other liquid present, a wet floor sign should be displayed. These should always be on show when floors are being cleaned – claims have a strong chance of success if you slip on a wet floor because a cleaner hasn’t displayed a warning sign.

Such action must also be taken in a timely manner. For example, if a floor remains wet for an extended period any warning sign may become redundant and the premises could still be held liable for not removing a known hazard within a reasonable time frame.

We also see a lot of claimants slipping in entrance ways during wet weather. Rain and snow obviously increases the risk of floors becoming wet, so building entrances should have a mat to stop excess water being walked onto the floor.

If you injure yourself after slipping on a wet floor you’ll be able to claim if your accident should have been prevented by drying the floor or warning you it was wet.

Land owners can’t be held liable for bad weather but there is a duty of care when it comes to preventing slips on ice and snow. For example, work yards where an employer expects staff to operate must be treated within a reasonable time of ice appearing. Car parks and entrances at work and schools should also be treated, or signage placed to warn of the hazard. Steps and platforms at bus and train stations are also subject to higher duties of care.

However, the same rules do not necessarily apply to all locations. For example, car parks can’t always be expected to be fully gritted and salted. The same applies to slipping on icy pavements. Local authorities have a responsibility to grit/salt the roads and they do so in order of importance, with the major routes like motorways and A-roads being prioritised over lesser roads. Typically, should someone slip and fall on a public footpath due to ice, it is highly unlikely that they would be able to prove sufficient liability against the local authority highways department to enable them to win any claim for personal injury compensation.

Entertainment venues such as clubs, pubs and restaurants have the same duty of care as anywhere else to prevent injury to their customers. Clearly, if you slip or trip and fall after running around mucking about, or jumping from high up, any injuries you have are going to be seen as your own fault. However, being a little drunk does not actually stop you from being able to make a claim for compensation.

Going out for a few drinks is a legal activity and as such, it is foreseeable that patrons may be a bit tipsy. As such, there is a greater onus on the landlord to make sure that the facilities are safe, that signs are erected and floors are not left wet. If the 3rd party tries to argue that your injury was caused because you were drunk, they may be able to force you to have to admit some responsibility, but you would still have a claim.

Your employer is responsible for ensuring the health and safety of all employees and providing a safe environment to avoid slips, trips and falls at work.

Claims for slipping on a wet floor at work are common, particularly among kitchen staff. We also see falls resulting from incorrect footwear or if a floor surface is not fit for purpose, perhaps requiring a non-slip covering. Injuries also arise as a result of a messy workplace, if wires or cables are not stored properly or if items are left in walkways or beside desks etc.

Employers are required to regularly inspect work areas to check for hazards and take action to reduce any risk. Any employer who leaves a floor surface slippery without properly erecting hazard warning signs exposes people to the risk of injury, and this leads to a claim where the employer will be held at fault.

In claims where injuries are sustained from slipping on a shop floor or in a supermarket, success will depend on if the management has been negligent in its duties to protect customers.

Shoppers often injure themselves after slipping in shop entrances during wet weather, or inside the shop due to a spillage or a leak on the floor. Sometimes the floor has been subjected to intense polishing, rendering it dangerously slippy.

Common hazards should be assessed and removed with regular inspections. In general, walkways should be kept clear and at the entrance to a shop, restaurant or other public venue, there should be a mat to enable people to wipe excess rain water from their feet. If there is a spillage, wet floor or other slipping risk a hazard warning sign should be erected.

If they have failed to display a hazard warning sign, you are likely to have a strong claim for personal injury compensation.

The maintenance of public spaces, paths and roads fall under the responsibility of your local council. They are required to inspect and identify hazards that should be removed or fixed, such as cracked surfaces, damaged railings or missing lighting. If the council has failed to uphold its statutory duties and left an area in a dangerous condition for too long, they can be held liable for your injuries.

Defending such claims is made easier for local authorities because the courts have decided that the onus to prove council negligence should rest on the claimant. To prove liability, claimants must show that the council had known about the hazard before the accident. Furthermore, they must demonstrate that the council had reasonable time to inspect that area and should have repaired the hazard and removed the risk of injury.

A claimant will usually need to demonstrate that the hazard that caused them to sustain injury was present for a period of at least 6 months before their accident date.

To make a claim against a local authority or other land owner after a trip and fall on a broken pavement, the claimant must demonstrate that the defect (a raised edge, or hole, for example) met specific size requirements, usually a depth or height of over 1 inch.

Any defects found that have a vertical tripping edge of 1″ or more should be listed for repair and removed from the footpath as quickly as possible. If a hazard has been in situ for 6 months or more, it should have been highlighted for repair if the local authority correctly inspected the pavement in question.

You can start your claim online or request a call back, and one of our expert team will be in touch. Alternatively, call us on 01225 430285. We’ll only need a few minutes of your time to let you know if you can make a claim. If you decide to go ahead we’ll connect you with our specialist slip and trip solicitors who have a proven track record of success.

With over 20 years’ experience, you can use our knowledge and expertise to get your claim off to the best start. There is no charge for assessing your case, so you have nothing to lose and much to gain if you can make a successful claim.

We’ve helped many clients win compensation after a fall, including:

• A lady who tripped over a raised paving stone caused by a tree root growing under the surface of pavement, sustaining a broken arm.
• A mother of 3 who slipped on water that had leaked from a broken freezer unit in a supermarket, causing a dislocated knee.
• A man who fell in a large pothole in a cul-de-sac, fracturing his ankle.
• A worker who slipped on oil leaking from a faulty forklift truck, breaking his leg in the process.

Importantly, claims are made on a No Win No Fee basis, so you pay nothing if your claim fails.