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Compensation Claims for Slips, Trips and Falls

If you or a member of your family is suffering from a personal injury caused by a slip, trip or fall, our specialist personal injury lawyers may be able to help you claim compensation. Contact us today on 0800 032 8511 for claim advice, or by completing a claim enquiry form.

Who Can Claim Compensation for a Trip or Fall?
Making an Injury Claim

Slips Trips and Falls in the Workplace
Compensation
Specialist Personal Injury Lawyers

Successful Claims for Slips Trips and Falls

Who Can Claim Compensation for a Trip or Fall

It is usually possible for a person suffering a personal injury as the result of an accident to make a claim, if they can prove that someone else was responsible.

Slips and trips can unfortunately occur in a wide range of locations and situations. For example:

• Accidents caused by defective public pavements
• Slipping accidents caused by spillages in supermarkets
• Accidents caused by obstructions or hazards in the workplace
• Tripping accidents at school or college
• Injuries due to other accidents on public and private property

If it is clear that the incident could have been prevented, then the injured party could be entitled to claim compensation. Employers, local authorities and business owners have a responsibility to maintain their property to a safe level. If they have failed to take necessary measures to do this, then you could have a strong case.

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Making an Injury Claim

Where possible you should try to take photographs of the area where the accident occurred. In cases where the location of the incident is on a public pavement, it is important to show the dimensions of the defect. This is most simply done by placing a ruler or an object of standard size, such as a coin or a matchbox, in the photograph with the defect.

It is also helpful to record as much detail as possible, including the names and addresses of any witnesses, remembering to keep receipts of any expenses related to the injury.  Most importantly, you should seek legal advice from a specialist lawyer. They can help you to formulate all the evidence and assist you in making your claim.

In every case, medical evidence will be required, and it is necessary to show that the person you are making a claim against owed you a duty of care, that they breached that duty of care (were negligent), and that the injury you sustained was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of that negligence.

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Slips, Trips and Falls in the Workplace

For slips and trips that occur at work, the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 apply. This requires all employers to provide a safe working environment for employees, free from obstructions, defects or substances that could cause someone to slip, trip or fall.

If you were injured in an accident at work, try to ensure that the details are recorded in an accident book if one is available.

A compensation claim for a trip or fall in the workplace would usually be dealt with in the same way as any other employer liability claim.

Details of one of the cases our lawyers have successfully handled for an employee injured in a slipping accident at work can be found below:

• In 2002, working at a residential home, our client sustained a personal injury as the result of a slipping accident at work. She was on call at the home and entered a patient's room. Failing to notice the floor was wet, she slipped on urine and fell, landing in an unnatural and awkward position. As a result our client suffered lower back injuries.
  
  She had to be helped to her feet by colleagues and, though initially she tried to continue working, had to be taken to hospital for x-rays and treatment for what was diagnosed as a torn ligament. Despite being officially signed off work by her GP, after 3 months her employers advised that failure to return to work would result in her dismissal. Not wishing to lose her job, she visited her doctor again, advising that she felt better and asked him to sign her fit for work. Unfortunately, she was only able to complete one shift and, unable to return to work for a further 12 months, her employment was then terminated.
  
  Despite having treatment of various types, including a number of very painful epidurals and pain management treatments, she has never fully recovered from this accident at work. The injuries have not only affected her ability to work, and her future value in the market-place, but she also enjoyed, and now misses, the social element of her work and colleagues.
  
  Unable to carry out basic household tasks, she is no longer able to enjoy her hobby of cooking, and is also unable to tend her allotment or garden.
  
  Although liability was agreed as 50/50, her employers were reluctant to agree the scale of compensation. Only when we pursued the case to trial (only settling on the actual day) did they reach an agreement. Our solicitors, who specialise in personal injury compensation claims for accidents in the workplace, were able to secure total damages of £40,000 for our client, though the defendants also agreed to repay benefits of £25,000, giving a full liability figure of £105,000.

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Compensation

If your claim is successful, and our Legal Line solicitors will be working hard to ensure that this will be the case, you will be entitled to two elements of a compensation award.

The first is for the pain and suffering you may have gone through and what is known as loss of amenity. This is called general damages and can include an award for your inability to do things after the accident that you used to be able to do before, eg, wash your car, look after your garden, walk the dog, etc. The award for loss of amenity can be for a short period after an accident or for ever if that is what the medical evidence supports.

The second element of a compensation award is for your losses and expenses and is known as special damages. It is important to keep receipts for any expenditure you have related to the accident, so that these can be reclaimed. The aim is to put you back in a position financially as if the accident had never occurred.

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Specialist Personal Injury Lawyers

The Legal Line lawyers are experts in all areas of personal injury and have successfully recovered damages for many victims of slipping and tripping accidents. Using their extensive experience, they can provide specialist guidance, assistance and accident claim advice to help reach the best possible outcome.

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Successful Claims for Slips, Trips and Falls

See below examples of some of the many cases handled by our expert lawyers on behalf of the victims of injuries.  Details of other cases can be found in our news and success stories sections:

• As the result of a fall in a public place, our client suffered a personal injury and was left with a facial scar. She was visiting a motorway service station when she tripped on a piece of wood being used as flooring to cover a hole.

  She required hospital treatment, including stitches to a wound on her forehead, and it was several weeks before she was recovered. Our lawyers were able to recover £2,500 compensation on her behalf.

• At the time of her accident, our client had just paid for some groceries at a local supermarket and was moving away from the checkout area. She tripped on a discarded box that had been left lying flat on the floor at the end of the checkout and fell, sustaining injuries to her knee and fingers as a result.

  Our lawyers acted on her behalf in a public liability claim for this supermarket accident, as they are specialists in recovering personal injury compensation for the victims of accidents in public places. They recovered damages of £5,750 from the supermarket in respect of her injuries and ongoing symptoms.

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