Slips and trips happen to everyone – depending on the circumstances, you may be entitled to compensation. When they occur in the supermarket they can be trickier to claim for – after all, the other side will do everything possible to prevent having to pay out for your compensation. The supermarket needs to demonstrate that it did everything that is reasonably expected to prevent the injury in order to defend a claim. So, to you and me, that means that they have to prove that they took steps to look after customer’s safety – e.g. checking aisles for spillages on a regular basis, or only stacking products safely with proper procedures and training in place for staff.
Most victims of slips or trips claims in supermarkets believe that the store should have done more to prevent it happening. But ultimately, in a court of law, the supermarket is not obliged to go over and above expectations to prevent a slip accident. In terms of the business it would cost them too much to have someone watching all the aisles all of the time. However, they are required to carry out routine checks and use warning signs when a hazard is identified. One example you might see often is the wet floor signs on the premises. In many premises they will also have signs up for staff to fill in after routine checks – these are usually most visible in toilets but they will have the same checklist for the store as well.
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