Stepping on broken glass, especially when you’re not wearing any shoes or wearing thin soled shoes, can obviously be painful and debilitating. In many walks of life there is precious little that can be done to stop such incidents. If you are injured by walking over broken glass on a public pavement, who can you possibly sue? The council can’t be expected to prevent such things…
But if it happens at work or in a public premises, that’s when you may have a claim for personal injury compensation. Read on for more advice.
One of the most commons scenarios is broken glass in pubs and nightclubs. The Occupiers Liability Act puts a clear duty on the owners of such establishments to take all reasonable steps to prevent an injury occurring on their premises. This commonly means having systems of inspection and maintenance in place, because accidents of course do happen. Stepping on glass in such a place doesn’t automatically entitle you to a wining claim – it all depends on how long the glass may have been there for and what, if any, steps the owners of the premises had taken to prevent such accidents occurring.
It’s the same in other places where broken glass may become a danger – perhaps in a supermarket from a spillage, or perhaps by the side of a pool at a hotel where people may be drinking. As soon as such a hazard is identified, the area should be cordoned off or made safe as soon as possible. But if there is no reasonable knowledge of the hazard, you may find it hard to claim.
At work, there are similar regulations to the above. But if you work in an area where broken glass may be present, there may be a duty under The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations to provide you with boots. Perhaps if you work in waste disposal, or in a glass factory or building site. Even if you work outdoors in general where there is a risk of broken glass, boots can, and therefore should, be provided.
The injuries associated can be painful, and can of course stop you walking properly for a while as well. You probably don’t want to be weight bearing on deep wounds as I imagine it’d be extremely painful. Any losses or expenses from time off work can be claimed for as well, and if there are any complications such as infections, this can be included too.
Because these sorts of claims are not easy to win, you would be far better of instructing a specialist personal injury law firm like us for representation. We don’t deal with any other types of law which means we’re experts in the field of personal injury alone. We have won cases that we, in reality, shouldn’t have won at all thanks to the tenacity of our legal team.
For free and friendly help and advice, call us now on 0800 634 75 75.
