Cellar steps in particular are known to often be dangerous. The passageway can commonly be narrow, and the steps themselves are often small in size. They may also not have enough grip on them as well.
So if you need to use some cellar steps where the health and safety responsibility lies with someone else, can you make a claim for personal injury compensation if you’re injured?
First question – who could be to blame?
There has to be someone at fault for you to be able to make a claim for personal injury compensation. If you own a home and it’s your own cellar steps you’ve fallen on, you’ll find it hard to sue anyone. Who could be at fault?
If it happened in a rented property or in a place of work, there is the potential for a duty of care to be with someone. In a rented property, it can be the landlord. At work, it can be your employer. So there may be a duty of care in either of these scenarios.
Second question – what caused the fall?
We must prove that there has been some form of health and safety breach in the reasonably expected duty of care for you. Some examples where you may be eligible to win a claim for compensation could be:
- No handrails
- Broken, sloped, or defective steps
- Steps being too narrow
- Steps not having adequate slip protection
- Steps being cluttered with debris or other articles that could cause a trip
At work, there are specific regulations for this kind of thing, such as The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations that state:
12. (1) Every floor in a workplace and the surface of every traffic route in a workplace shall be of a construction such that the floor or surface of the traffic route is suitable for the purpose for which it is used.
and
(a) the floor, or surface of the traffic route, shall have no hole or slope, or be uneven or slippery so as, in each case, to expose any person to a risk to his health or safety
In a rented property, a lot of it can come down to knowledge of a defect or a danger. If your landlord knew of the danger and failed to warn you or take steps to prevent access perhaps, you could have a claim for personal injury compensation.
Third question – what should you do?
If this has happened to you, call us now on 0800 634 75 75 for a free and friendly no obligation chat about your options. We can normally tell you immediately if we think you ay have a claim or not, and you have nothing to lose by getting in touch. We work on a no win, no fee for cases as well.
