If you go to a public place like a supermarket or a bar, restaurant, or a shop, the occupiers of the premises have an important duty under the Occupiers Liability Act to take all reasonable steps to look after your health and safety as a visitor to their premises. When it comes to slipping hazards, this is generally achieved by having a system of inspection and maintenance which aims to reduce the risk of someone slipping on a wet floor hazard.
Claims under the Occupiers Liability Act are inherently difficult to win because most places nowadays do uphold their duty to take all reasonable steps. As I said earlier, a system of inspection and maintenance can be classed as taking reasonable steps.
So what about toilets? Well we all know that they are more liable to be a slipping hazard as liquid is more liable to accumulate on the floor. So you could Say that there is a greater onus on the occupier of a premises to have a good system of inspection and maintenance by having a more frequent system perhaps.
The above however is beside the point I am trying to make. Unfortunately, in our experience, we often find that slipping accidents in toilets are more inherently difficult to win because:
- Most companies have a good system of inspection which is often evidenced on visible charts on doors or in the toilets. It’s there for hygiene and for safety reasons. Whilst some companies may fail when it comes to general inspection of the premises, most, when it comes to toilets, have a system in place.
- CCTV (I sort of hope) doesn’t cover toilets; for obvious reasons. With a claim like this we can smash the other side’s defence by reviewing CCTV to see whether there system of inspection or maintenance is actually upheld on the day of an accident. The camera never lies! Without CCTV, we have no way or proving anything – and I doubt there is any in a toilet!
To show that the occupier has taken all reasonable steps, should they defend the claim, they have a duty to disclose documentation in support of their defence. In a claim like this we would expect to see evidence of systems of inspection for the day of the accident, and for weeks or even months leading up to the day. We would expect to see documentation showing how their systems work and what training has been provided to staff etc.
Whilst this may seem like grim news if you are reading this and have slipped in a toilet, you may still have a claim. We don’t lie to the people we advise – we tell you how it is in law, because that’s how we build a case; based on the facts and the law. It is hard to win a claim like this if the other side can prove they have taken all reasonable steps, but it is still worth looking in to.
