It’s easy to slip – that’s why premises owners have an important duty to ensure all floors and traffic routes are free from any articles that could cause a person to slip. Failing to do so means you may have a claim for compensation against them.
Slipping in a Shop / Restaurant / Cafe / Club / Any Other Public Place
Owner of such premises above have an important duty to ensure that all floors and traffic routes are free from any articles that could cause a person to slip. How should they do this? By regularly inspecting all areas of their premises on a reasonable and regular basis – Particularly in restaurants, cafes, and clubs where food and drink can easily end up on the floor. Staff should be fully trained in how to look out for and clear spillages as soon as possible. Preventative measures should always be used if there are to be any delays – sufficient warning signs or cordoning off an area to prevent the public from accessing it.
If the floor is being cleaned (e.g. mopped) then the staff should be fully trained to ensure they adequately warn passersby of the hazard a wet floor poses. Signs should be numerous and very visible, and cordons should be used in some circumstances. Every reasonable effort must be made to ensure that passersby are either prevented from accessing a hazardous area, or are sufficiently warned of the hazard it poses.
If you slip on a dangerous floor, seek advice from a specialist personal injury lawyer to discuss your grounds for a claim.
Slipping at Work
Similar to the above, your employer has an important duty to ensure that all traffic routes are safe to use and are free from any hazard. In fact, Housekeeping Records are something your employers must ensure are always up to date. Warning signs and cordons should be utilised in the same way as the above. If you slip over due to the floor being wet, or articles on the floor causing the ground to be slippery, you are entitled to make a claim for compensation from your employers liability insurance.
All employers have a legal duty to ensure they have an employer’s liability insurance policy in place to cover their employees in the event they are injured in an accident. In fact, this insurance exists for the very reason for claiming compensation. We normally find employers are quite happy for employees to claim from the insurance to help them access the compensation they deserve for the injuries they have suffered at work.
Even if the accident was through the fault of a colleague, your employers are still responsible and are still liable to compensate you – so fear not if it was your mate Jim in the cleaning department who forgot to put the wet floor sign down on the hallway he has just mopped; your employers insurance should still cover it!
Slipping Injuries
Slipping can leave you with a wide range of injuries. You might think that an impact injury is the most common – i.e. bruising from hitting the ground, or a fracture if you hit a solid surface at speed. But you can also end up twisting your body as you go down and straining your muscles and you can easily end up with whiplash. If you slip and fall hard and sudden, your neck will likely jolt and you will likely end up with neck pain extending down in to your back and shoulders. This is whiplash – and is not a comfortable thing to live with.
Slipping Compensation Claims
If you slip due to the floor being wet or slippery, or due to articles being left out on a traffic route, seek advice from a specialist personal injury lawyer to see if you have grounds for a claim. Most minor whiplash claims statistically settle for around £2,500 – so if you get a whiplash injury as part of your accident, you could be looking at this and more depending on your other injuries suffered and the severity of the pain.
