Tripping over can result in some serious injuries – especially on hard flooring. I know most of us like to have a little laugh when we see someone trip over, and any slapstick British comedy involving people tripping up is funny to watch. But when it happens to you and you’re injured as a result, it isn’t so funny.
For this blog, I’m going to talk to you about tripping over due to broken tiles.
Broken tiles can be obvious tripping hazards. Commonly the tile, or a section of the broken tile, may be raised due to it being broken and loose. You may be unaware that the tile is broken until you step on it when it rises, which again can cause someone to trip over.
So if this happens to you, can you make a claim for personal injury compensation?
If the accident happened in a public place, like a shopping mall, a restaurant, or a public bathroom for example, there is a duty of whoever is in control of the premises to look after you. This duty is born from the Occupiers Liability Act which states that the occupier of a premises must take all reasonable steps to prevent an injury from occurring.
All reasonable steps could be a regular system of inspection and maintenance, or it could mean that if a broken tile is reported, cordons or signs are erected as quickly as possible, or the defect is rectified immediately. The Act doesn’t mean that you will receive compensation automatically just because an accident happened; in actual fact, the law makes it quite difficult to successfully pursue this kind of claim as it all comes down to what reasonable steps the occupier of a premises has taken.
If they can prove that they have taken all reasonable steps, they can defend a claim. If they have a good system of inspection and maintenance, they could argue that they have taken reasonable steps to prevent an injury occurring. However, if we can show that the broken tiles have existed for quite some time without any reparations being made, or cordons / signs being erected, we would argue that they have been negligent in failing to do this.
If the accident is at work, then the workplace regulations apply. These state that all traffic routes must be safe to use. If they’re not, you may have a claim against your employer. Again, they could defend the claim if they can prove they have a reasonable system of inspection or maintenance in place to prevent this kind of thing from happening.
