It’s fairly safe to say that in this modern age of consumerism and convenience shopping that we all have a local supermarket and whether you enjoy your weekly shop or have to be dragged down the aisles kicking and screaming they are pretty much unavoidable.
But what if your shopping trip is more than mundane? What if something terrible should happen and you get injured whilst in the supermarket? What happens then?
Well like most occupiers of premises, supermarkets have responsibilities to the people that enter and use them. This means that if you are in the middle of your shopping trip and have an accident which causes you an injury then you could have a claim.
You might wonder what the worst thing that could possibly happen is. Well, the most common type of accidents in supermarkets are slips and trips but that’s not to say that other dangers don’t await you. Unseen liquids leaking on to the floor, uncovered stands for displays sticking out in to aisles and even the humble grape has been the downfall of the casual shopper.
Another hazard may be found in falling items and an incorrectly stacked shelf or that precariously balanced stack of baked bean tins that could come crashing to earth – or worse, crashing down on you. If these were unsafely or incorrectly stacked then this could result in a claim for compensation.
However, it’s not just accidents in the store itself that could result in a personal injury claim. All land owned by the supermarket is their responsibility and the car park is just as much their responsibility as the fruit aisle.
The question is – what do the supermarkets need to be doing to keep you safe?
The answer is simply that the supermarkets should have measures in place to keep their property safe for you, the visitor, as much as they can. They should regularly inspect for hazards in the store and take action to clean up spilled items and reduce the risk caused by potential tripping hazards. These should be designed to keep the risks to visitors down to a reasonable level.
It may be that the supermarket can defend a claim by showing that they do routinely inspect the store and clean up spillages and hazards. Unfortunately sometimes accidents are just that, genuine accidents but if the supermarket cannot prove that it has maintained the store to a reasonable standard then they will not always be able to rely on this.
The same again is true outside as well as in and the land belonging to the supermarket should be kept in a reasonable condition for its intended use (don’t expect tarmac in a flower bed) so as not to expose you as a visitor to an unnecessary risk of harm.
Finally, it is important to note that it is not just customers that may be exposed to the risk of harm, and while supermarkets may be convenient places to shop they are also somebody’s place of work, which means that workers may be exposed to certain hazards both in the store and in other areas, such as delivery bays. If the supermarket is your employer and you have been injured at work then you may also be able to claim.
In any event make sure that your accident is reported to the supermarket in an accident book and that they are aware of what happened and then call The Injury Lawyers for no obligation, expert personal injury advice.
