Accidents in a Supermarket

If you have had an accident in a supermarket that was not your fault, and you suffered injury as a result, you may have a claim for compensation.

There are a number of ways an accident can occur in a supermarket – I have listed some of the more common types of accidents below:

1. Slipping on a spillage that was negligently left uncleaned.
2. Tripping on an item negligently left on the floor of an aisle.
3. Items falling on you from a poorly stacked shelf.

Whatever the accident you have had in a supermarket it is brought as an Occupier’s Liability Claim.  This may sound complex but what it means is fairly simple. It is the Occupier’s Liability Act 1957 which would be relevant in this case: it is this act which offers protection to the ‘lawful visitors’ of premises. The act states that the Occupier has a duty to ensure its visitors will be reasonably safe when visiting its premises. An Occupier need not actually occupy the premises as such; an occupier is simply the person(s) who have overall physical control over the premises. Therefore if your accident occurred in a supermarket, it would be the company who would have overall physical control and a claim would be brought against them.

Claims against supermarkets can be difficult as they need only establish that they have taken all reasonable steps to protect their visitors from risks to their health and safety. For example if you have slipped on a spillage, the supermarket, in order to ‘escape’ liability, could give evidence that they have a system of inspection in place and that this spillage occurred at some point between inspections. If, however, they have not got such a system, or they cannot prove that they have adhered to a system in place, for example they should have completed walked inspections every hour and they missed a couple of hours around when your accident occurred, then there is a strong possibility that your claim will be successful.

In order to strengthen your claim you should:

1. Report the accident to a member of staff.
2. Take the contact details of any witnesses to the accident.
3. Seek medical attention for your injuries.
4. Seek the advice of a specialist personal injury lawyer directly.

If you require any further information regarding your accident then feel free to give us a call.