Supermarkets, being so busy, will often restock shelves during periods where there are plenty of customers shopping at the same time. Whilst this is often necessary, it can be a recipe for disaster where health and safety guidelines are not adhered to.
So what happens if you tripped on plastic wrapping in a supermarket? What are your rights to access the compensation you may need and deserve?
How the law works
I won’t bore you with legal jargon or complex terms – that’s not how we like to advise people as a law firm! We’re more about giving it to you in simple and plain English.
There is an important piece of legislation called The Occupiers Liability Act and it applies to supermarkets. It means that they have a duty of care for you to ensure that they take all reasonable steps to prevent you from being injured on their premises.
The top things they need to do are to avoid slip and trip hazards as they are generally the most common things that can occur. When it comes to plastic wrapping, it’s easily avoidable. All it takes is training staff to use disposal cages or containers which of course need to be supplied. It’s as easy as that! But if this isn’t done and plastic wrapping gets on the floor, it’s a clear and easily avoidable hazard.
Even if the supermarket trains staff and provides the means to safely store and dispose of plastic wrapping, but an employee fails to adhere to the policy, you should still have a claim. Their negligence in failing to follow procedure falls on the responsibility of their employer, as they are vicariously liable for their employee actions.
Vicarious liability simply means that the responsibility falls on their employer.
So I can make a claim?
Yes – if we can prove that the supermarket has failed to uphold their very important duty of care for you then we can win a case against them.
We are a specialist injury law firm who represent victims for supermarket claims all the time so we’re used to fighting the big boys and winning our battles against them. Don’t be put off by the idea of taking on a multinational corporation – we’ll do that for you! Not only will we do it, we will fight tooth and nail to make sure we beat them as well!
With a proven track record of successful cases against supermarkets, you’re in safe hands with our professional and friendly legal team and lawyers. Just call us 0800 634 7575 for an informal, and no obligation chat about your options.