Injury Claims for Slips and Trips at Work

Your employer has a legal duty of care to you and all employees to ensure that your workplace is safe and free of potential risks. This includes ensuring that workers can travel throughout the workplace without the threat of slips and trips because of wet floors, obstacles in pathways, uneven flooring or spills of any kind. Victims of slips and trips in the workplace can suffer from a host of injuries and damages, and as such, they may be entitled to claim compensation for their losses and pain.

Our solicitors have successfully managed many slips and trips at work claims and are committed to securing the highest compensation awards possible for clients. We offer an initial consultation free of charge to answer your questions and assess your accident and injury details. We welcome the opportunity to discuss your case with you to determine your eligibility and the likely outcome of your claim.

Employer Responsibility to Employees

Your employer is legally obliged to observe a number of health and safety laws which serve to promote security and wellbeing of employees in the workplace. These laws make it clear that employers must carry out risk assessments of the working environment and address any areas of concern promptly.

The completion of regular and thorough risk assessments and the subsequent actions to address vulnerabilities will have a significant effect on minimising the potential for slips and trips, and so it is imperative that employers understand their legal duty and observe their obligations.

The employer’s legal responsibilities to their workforce are clearly defined in legislation including:

• The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974
• The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
• The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992

These, coupled with British and European standards set out the actions that employers should take to recognise and remove potential health and safety vulnerabilities within the workplace. Your employer will be considered to have breached these legal requirements if they do not follow their responsibilities. If you suffer from an injury because of a failure in their duty of care to you, it is likely that they can be held liable for your pain, suffering and any financial losses.

Common Causes of Slips and Trips at Work

There are a number of causes of slips and trips in the workplace, many of which could have been avoided by the employer adopting the necessary health and safety requirements and fully observing their duty of care to workers. Some of the most common causes of slips, trips and falls within the workplace that are presented to us include:

• Wet floors with no warnings or signage
• Spills of products, substances and cleaning fluids that have not been communicated through signs and vocal alerts
• Falling over obstacles in pathways
• Falls from ladders, shelving units or heights
• Trip hazards caused by uneven flooring
• Unsecured carpets and mats
• Potholes in company car parks, yards and work areas
• Poorly positioned and secured wiring

If your solicitor is able to prove that your slip or trip was caused because of an oversight in the employer’s legal duty of care to you, it is likely that liability can be established and you will be eligible to make a claim for personal injury compensation.

Common injuries sustained in slips and trips at Work

A slip or trip at work can have significant physical impacts on a victim, and this can lead to severe effects in many areas of life. A victim of a slip or trip is likely to suffer from pain, potential mobility problems and a host of related suffering. Our solicitors are committed to securing the highest amount of compensation possible in order to ease some of the burdens that can result from slipping or tipping over at wok.

Some of the most common effects that are presented to us by victims of workplace slips and trips include:

• Broken bones
• Dislocated bones
• Sprains and strains
• Swelling, bruising and disfigurement
• Reduced mobility and function of limbs
• Inability to perform work tasks, inhibiting earning potential
• Potential impact on future work successes and promotion potential
• Psychological distress
• Significant impact on the enjoyability of life.
• Restrictions on independent living such as impacts on driving, moving around your home and taking care of your children.

The severity of the injury will determine how much compensation is paid and our solicitors will help to establish the level of impact that you have incurred through your workplace accident. We recognise that there are often a host of additional complications to the initial damage and that pain or mobility problems can have a significant impact on all areas of your life. As such, we aim to demonstrate the severity of your suffering to secure the highest award possible and get you back on your feet.

When should I start my accident claim?

From experience, our injury claim solicitors would recommend that you speak to a legal expert as soon as possible following your accident. Even if you decide not to go ahead straight away, receiving legal advice at an early stage will at least ensure that you know your legal rights and what you may be entitled to.

Starting a compensation claim sooner rather than later also has benefits regarding the collecting of evidence to back up your claim. If there were colleagues or other people who witnessed your fall at work, contacting them for a witness statement is going to be much easier closer to when the accident happened.

The maximum time limit that you must stick to is three years from the date of the accident. Once three years have passed, your claim will be considered as statute barred. This means that even if your employer was at fault and you suffered a significant injury when you slipped or tripped over at work, you would no longer be legally entitled to pursue a personal injury claim.

There is an exception to this rule which applies to workers who are under 18 years old at the time of the accident. As they are legally classed as a minor, a person under the age of 18 cannot legally make a claim on their own. So in these cases, the three year time limit does not begin until the day of their 18th birthday.

How much compensation can I claim for a slip or trip at work?

The amount of compensation that is awarded to you will depend upon the type and severity of the injury that has been caused. Our solicitors recognise that physical injuries often lead to emotional distress and so we ensure that our settlement negotiations encompass all areas of damage and loss.

When we begin negotiating the highest award possible on your behalf, we will ensure that consideration is applied to the following potential areas of suffering:

• Physical and emotional damage and pain
• Loss of earnings and potential impact on future earnings
• Cost of treatment
• Transport costs
• Inability to perform normal daily tasks
• Impact on personal activity such as playing with children and socialising
• Any detrimental impact on independence, such as an inability to drive or shop alone.

Our team of nationwide injury lawyers are experienced and skilled at achieving the highest compensation awards possible on behalf of clients and aim to provide a professional, friendly and stress-free service at all times.

Will I be given a No Win No Fee service?

All of our friendly and experienced injury lawyers provide their services on a 100% no win no fee* basis. This is the term used to describe a conditional fee agreement (CFA). Essentially, these are the terms and conditions that govern the relationship between the solicitor and client when making an accident claim.

By making a no win no fee claim against your employer you won’t have the financial worry of paying expensive legal fees. This is because with our service there are absolutely no upfront costs to pay. And if we are not successful in winning your case, you won’t pay our solicitors a penny.

How do I find out if I have a valid claim?

Knowing whether or not you have a valid claim can be confusing, but you don’t need to worry. Our team of personal injury lawyers provide a completely free case assessment service. This is a chance to discuss the circumstances of your accident and the subsequent injury you have sustained with a solicitor experienced in accident at work claims.

Our solicitor will ask a few simple questions to help gain an understanding of what happened, when it happened and the effect this has had on your life. So they will need to ask what caused you to slip or trip over, did anybody witness the fall, was it recorded in your employer’s accident book, what medical attention you have received and other similar questions.

From this information, we will be able to determine if you have a valid claim, as well as the likelihood of it being successful. In addition to finding out if you are eligible to make a claim, the consultation is a great opportunity for you to ask any questions you might have or discuss any concerns.

We provide a genuine no win, no fee service. So if you decide to go ahead, we can get started straight away without you needed to pay any upfront costs. You will only pay a success fee if we win your case, which is a percentage of the compensation awarded. This success fee is agreed with you in advance and can be a maximum of 25%, but is usually lower.

If you lose your case, you won’t pay a penny. So making a claim with us is risk-free.

To find out more, please enter your details into to form below and we will call you back to discuss your claim.