Slips and Trips

Slips, trips and falls are part of every day life and can occur at any given moment. In unfortunate scenarios, they can lead to serious injuries, with symptoms that could affect the injured party for a considerable length of time after the accident.

It is possible your injury has caused you to take time off work or incur medical costs, in addition to everything else, you might be under a financial burden.

Making a claim for compensation after a slip or trip can be intimidating. With 20 years’ experience, our solicitors and experts can help you feel at ease with coming forward and taking action if you have endured a slip, trip or fall due to negligence in health and safety laws.

Claiming against your Local Council

Under the Highways Act 1980, your Local Council is responsible for making sure any pavements or pathways are well maintained and safe for use. They should do the same for roads, parks and other areas which are open to the public.

Your Local Council’s responsibilities include:

• Gritting roads and pavements in snowy or icy conditions, to make surfaces less slippery.
• Fixing potholes or cracks in the road, especially if they have the potential to cause a serious accident for cars, motorcyclists and other road users.
• Maintaining public playgrounds, by fixing broken equipment or flooring that may cause injury to children or parents supervising them.

If you've experienced a slip, trip or fall on account of the poor state of a pavement, you could make a claim against the Council to take care of the compensation required for your injuries.

Supermarket slips and trips

Experiencing a fall in a supermarket can be embarrassing in the least, however it can cause serious injuries. You expect to be able to do your shopping accident free and not have to worry about health and safety when your mind is focused on the weekly shop.

Supermarkets have the responsibility to uphold a safe environment covering the following;

• Removal of hazards or spillages quickly
• Signpost hazards or spillages
• Maintain structures, or equipment that could cause you harm
• Keep the environment safe and free from contamination
• Follow safety practices set by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)

Sometimes it can be difficult to establish an accident caused by negligence, especially when referring to the list stated above. This is where our solicitors and experts can help you and provide you with free legal guidance about making a claim for compensation

Slips and trips in privately owned businesses

Many people visit shops, restaurants, bars and markets each day. Those in charge of maintaining those spaces are additionally in charge of taking measures to ensure you and other customers are protected.

They are expected to pursue 'due diligence procedures’ to keep you safe from damage to the best extent that they possibly can.

If they neglect to pursue ‘due diligence procedures’, injuries can be caused by:

• Uneven flooring
• Wet floors with insufficient signage
• Poor lighting
• Obstacles in walkways

In the event that you do suffer an injury, we strongly advise that you collect some information that could help later on with your case; this includes photographs of what caused your trip, clear photographs of your injury, contact details of the people in charge of the maintenance of the area and if you can, CCTV footage of the accident.

Slips, trips and falls at work

Employers have an obligation to ensure your work environment is kept clean and obstacle free, so you can feel safe at work. Similarly, they should provide training and guidelines to all staff to ensure staff are making the work environment as safe as necessary.

Your employer likewise has a legitimate obligation to aim to provide a safe environment in which to work. This incorporates taking risk assessment measures to eliminate the risk of slips, trips and falls.

Compensation can help take care of the expenses of:

• Any time you've needed to take off from work while you recover from your injury
• Medical expenses of any medications you've had because of your injury, (for example, private physiotherapy)
• The expenses to family members who may have cared for you while you recovered