It has been found that accidents arising from slips, trips or falls are within the top three claims on supermarkets’ insurance policies.
In this article we discuss what action an injured person can take and how a supermarket can prevent this from occurring.
It has been estimated that the supermarket industry in the UK is worth £188bn, with the country employing over one million staff in 19,199 nationwide stores.
It is therefore sadly not surprising that accidents occur every day on their premises, due to leaking produce or equipment being left unattended in an aisle, creating a trip hazard, for a few examples.
If you are unfortunate enough to suffer an accident in a supermarket, we would urge you to inform the store of this, ensuring that this is accurately recorded in the company’s accident book. Not only would this support you evidentially, but it could also ensure that swift action is taken to prevent another visitor suffering the same fate.
Secondly, even if your injury appears to be minor at the time, we would advise you to seek any first aid treatment available on-site and then to see your GP, dial 111 or seek hospital treatment to ensure that you receive the required treatment and your injury heals as expected.
Many injuries are not apparent at the time and they can appear in the proceeding days and therefore it is important that they are addressed to minimise any pain and discomfort you are in and to ensure that all injuries are documented.
Finally, we would advise you to seek legal advice to check if you are entitled to make a claim for compensation.
Although adults in England and Wales have three years from the date of the accident to do this, CCTV footage is usually destroyed by a company shortly after this is recorded (if there are no legal reasons for preserving this), witnesses may no longer be contactable and a person’s memory begins to fade over time. Therefore, we would advise you to do this as soon as possible to ensure that you have the best possible chance of success with your claim.
It can be surprising but as supermarkets own such a vast area of land, even if an accident does occur on their premises, they are not automatically legally liable for this and as such a claim for personal injuries can be defended in full.
However, supermarkets are obliged to identify the possibility of an accident occurring in all foreseeable ways and this includes slips, trips and falls.
The supermarket should then record this in a “risk assessment”, highlighting how likely it is that an accident of this nature will occur and what measures they have implemented to reduce this risk.
Common measures are having a regular cleaning regime, using wet floor signs after an area has been mopped and/or cordoning off a hazardous area. Therefore, if it can be proven that a supermarket has taken all reasonable steps to prevent the accident from occurring, then no negligence will be found on their part and a claim for compensation may fail.
As such, if you do unfortunately suffer an injury in a supermarket, we would advise that you instruct a solicitor to act on your behalf as a claim can be complex.
Your solicitor will ensure that all available evidence is preserved (including CCTV footage) and they will request and analyse all relevant documents held by the supermarket, such as the company’s risk assessments, their accident book and their cleaning records to identify any weaknesses in a defence and to attempt to secure a settlement for you.
Obtaining a solicitor can also put your mind at ease that you are receiving the correct amount of compensation that you deserve and it may also be possible to obtain private treatment to ensure that you reach a speedy recovery.
Further reading
Accidents in Public Places – Oakwood Solicitors
Sources
https://www.c-store.com.au/common-supermarket-insurance-claims-public-liability-slip-and-fall/
https://www.ibisworld.com/united-kingdom/market-research-reports/supermarkets-industry/
WHAT TO DO NEXT
If you have suffered an accident in a public place, you may want to speak to your Public Liability experts. Alternatively, call 0113 200 9720.
Alex Singleton joined Oakwood Solicitors in April 2021 as an experienced Paralegal, having worked in Personal Injury since 2018. Currently, Alex works in the Employers’ Liability and Public Liabilit…
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