Can I Sue My Employer for a Slip and Fall at Work?

Slips and falls are perhaps one of the most common types of accidents that can happen in the workplace. Therefore, employers are duty-bound to remove hazards, use warning signs and take other preventative actions to try and stop workers from being injured from slips and falls. However, you might wonder, “Can I sue my employer for a slip, and fall at work?” and the answer is yes if certain eligibility criteria are met. As such, we’ll now look at when you could sue for a slip and fall and how to begin the claims process.

We are here to support you at the start of your claim by offering a free initial consultation. If you’re thinking of suing your employer, we will review what happened, answer your questions and offer no-obligation legal advice about what to do next. If your case is feasible, we could connect you with one of our accident-at-work solicitors. Should you both agree to work together, you’ll benefit from your solicitor’s No Win, No Fee service.

To find out more about how we can help with slip and fall claims, you can:

• Call our legal advisors on 0333 241 2519.
• Use our 24/7 live chat service.

Please get in touch with any immediate questions or read on for more information about when you could sue your employer for a slip and fall.

Can I Sue for a Slip and Fall Injury at Work?

Proving that your employer owed you a duty of care while you were working is not normally too hard to do. That’s because of legislation such as the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, meaning they have a legal obligation to prevent you from being injured where at all possible.

Some of the ways they could try to meet these obligations and try to prevent workplace slips and falls include:

• Conduct regular risk assessments of the workplace to try and identify potential slipping hazards and carry out any repairs necessary.
• Installing handrails in areas where falls are likely to happen.
• Providing anti-slip footwear and other forms of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) where required.
• Providing adequate health and safety training to all staff.
• Installing warning signs in areas where falls are likely.

If these types of actions are not taken and you slip and fall at work as a result, you could sue your employer if:

• Their negligence directly caused you to slip and fall at work; and
• As a result, you sustained an injury or injuries in the last three years.

To discuss the specific circumstances surrounding your slip and fall accident please call our legal advisors now.

What Types of Negligence Can Lead to Slips and Falls at Work?

Here are a few scenarios where slips and falls at work could enable you to sue your employer for your injuries:

• If you suffered a broken ankle after slipping on ice in the company car park which had been known about but ignored.
• After an air conditioning leak created a puddle in a warehouse, you slipped and sustained a severe knee injury because there were no warning signs or prompt cleanup efforts.
• You suffered a dislocated elbow from slipping on spilt oil in an industrial accident, which had not been cleaned up nor marked as hazardous.
• Where you sustained a broken arm after slipping on the recently cleaned floor in the company canteen because no warning signs were placed in the doorway.
• On a rainy day, you slipped on water that had pooled at the building entrance, which lacked adequate matting or non-slip surfaces, leading to multiple injuries.

Many other incidents could enable you to sue an employer for a slip and fall at work if you can prove their negligence was the cause.

What Should I Do If I’m Injured in a Slip and Fall Accident?

If you are injured in a slip and fall accident at work, you should:

• Tell your employer about what happened as soon as you can.
• Visit A&E, a minor injuries unit or GP surgery for medical treatment.
• Ask for a copy of the accident report form relating to the incident.

Taking these steps may help your employer to implement measures that will prevent similar slip and fall accidents in the future. They may also provide you with some of the evidence you’ll need if you decide to sue your employer for the fall at a later date.

What Evidence Can Be Used to Sue Your Employer?

Evidence will make it much easier for you to build a strong case if you decide to sue your employer for a slip and fall. It should demonstrate why your employer is to blame, how your injuries have affected you and how the accident occurred and may typically include:

• CCTV recordings or other types of video footage of the accident.
• Your copy of an accident report form that proves when and where the incident occurred.
• Photographs of the accident scene including any defect or problem that caused you to trip and fall.
• Contact information for anyone who saw you fall in case witness statements need to be collected at a later date.
• Copies of any relevant X-rays, scans or medical records that help to prove your diagnosis and prognosis.

If your claim is taken on, your solicitor will use any evidence you’ve provided to start building your case. They could also attempt to secure any further information needed as part of their service.

How Long Do I Have to Sue for a Slip and Fall Injury at Work?

As set out by the Limitation Act 1980, you generally have three years to sue your employer starting from the date of the slip and fall accident or the date you first became aware that your injury was linked to the accident.

Importantly, there are a couple of exceptions. If someone lacks the mental capacity to sue their employer, the three-year limitation does not begin until (if ever) they regain capacity.

If you were under 18 when you slipped and fell at work, the three-year limitation starts on your 18th birthday, meaning you have until you are 21 to sue your employer.

In both of the above cases, a litigation friend could pursue a claim on behalf of the injured person.

Various tasks must be completed before your claim is sent to your employer including speaking to witnesses, collecting evidence and requesting medical records. Therefore, beginning the claims process as soon as you can so that your case can be filed on time is normally the best approach.

How Much Compensation for a Slip and Fall Injury?

As you might expect, if you successfully sue your employer following a slip and fall at work, you will be paid compensation based on:

• How much pain, discomfort and loss of amenity your injuries cause (general damages); and
• Any associated costs, expenses or financial losses (special damages).

To ensure that you receive the correct amount of compensation for any physical or psychological trauma, your solicitor will normally ask you to attend an independent medical assessment. The report that follows will be used in conjunction with other medical records to help value your claim.

The special damages element of any slip and fall compensation you receive could cover any of the following:

• Physiotherapy costs, prescription fees and other medical expenses.
• The cost of a carer at home (including family support).
• Lost income as well as future loss of earnings.
• Travel expenses.
• Home adaption costs if your injuries leave you disabled.
• The cost of replacing personal property damaged in the accident.

The importance of assessing your claim in detail cannot be understated. That’s because as you can only claim compensation once, you must ensure that everything has been considered before you agree to settle.

Do You Need a Solicitor to Sue for a Slip and Fall at Work?

Our solicitors specialise in accident-at-work claims and, between them, have decades of experience. Their legal training and understanding of the claims process should make your claim much easier if your case is taken on. Their negotiation skills could also lead to you being awarded a much higher settlement than you might otherwise have been offered.

Some of the services provided by our solicitors when suing an employer for a slip and fall at work typically include:

• Finding the evidence to prove your case.
• Building as strong a case as possible and filing it correctly.
• Fighting your corner to try and counter any arguments raised by your employer’s insurers.
• Sending you regular updates so that are aware of how your case is progressing.
• Working hard to try and secure a fair level of compensation.

As we’ve already mentioned, if one of our solicitors helps you to sue your employer, they’ll act on a No Win, No Fee basis.

No Win, No Fee means that once a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) is signed by you and your solicitor, you will only need to pay for their work if you are compensated.

Within the CFA, a success fee percentage will be listed. This is the percentage of your compensation that will be deducted by your solicitor from any compensation payout if the claim is won. Legally, this success fee percentage cannot be higher than 25 per cent.

To find out whether you could sue for a slip and fall injury on a No Win, No Fee basis, please call now.

How Long Do Workplace Injury Claims Take?

The time it takes to sue an employer will depend largely on two factors:

1. How badly you’ve been injured from the fall.
2. Whether your employer accepts or contests liability for the accident.

For instance, if your employer immediately accepts the blame for your slip and fall accident at the start of the claims process and you have made a complete recovery from a broken wrist, for instance, you might expect to be compensated in around 4 to 5 months.

Conversely, if you sustained a serious and ongoing back injury following a fall at work, your claim could take more than a year even if liability is accepted quickly. This extra time would be necessary to enable your prognosis to be properly understood before calculating how much compensation you might be entitled to.

In these cases, and so long as liability has been accepted, interim compensation could be sought before your claim has been finalised so that you can cover any immediate costs linked to your injuries (care costs, lost earnings etc).

Contacting Us About a Slip and Fall Injury at Work

The easiest way to check if you have grounds to sue your employer for a slip and fall injury at work is to:

• Call 0333 241 2519 to explain your case to a specialist.
• Contact us via online chat so that we can assess your options.

We provide a no-obligation assessment of any workplace injury claims. This means a specialist will find out more about what happened, review any evidence and provide legal advice about your next steps.

If you decide to sue your employer for a slip and fall and one of our solicitors offers to help, your claim will proceed on a No Win, No Fee basis.