Slips, Trips and Falls Claims Guide

By Jade Morris. Last updated 1st July 2024. The injuries you could suffer after slips, trips and falls can greatly affect your quality of life. If the injury was caused by someone else’s negligence, you might be able to seek compensation by making a personal injury claim. A personal injury lawyer from our panel could help you with this. They can make a Conditional Fee Agreement with you, meaning that you claim on a No Win No Fee basis. 

We’ll go into what this means and the potential benefits of doing this below. To learn more, please get in touch with us using the details below.

  • You can call us using the phone number above. 
  • Use the live chat function on your screen to get through to our advisors. 
  • Contact us via our website. 

A man in a suit lying face forward on some stairs. His paperwork and bag are next to him on the stairs.

Select a Section

  1. Who Can Make Slips, Trips and Falls Claims?
  2. How Do You Prove A Slip and Trip Case?
  3. Slips, Trips and Falls Examples
  4. Make A No Win No Fee Personal Injury Claim
  5. Learn More About Personal Injury Claims

Who Can Make Slips, Trips and Falls Claims?

To be able to make an eligible slip, trip and fall claim, you have to prove that your accident and injuries were caused by a third-party breaching the duty of care they owed you. 

In the next couple of sections, we discuss what duty of care is owed to you, and by whom, depending on where your slip, trip and fall accident occurred. For now though, here is the eligibility criteria to claim compensation:

  1. You were owed a duty of care by a third party. 
  2. The party breached their duty of care.
  3. You became injured as a result of this breach. 

If you can prove that each of the above is applicable to you, you may be able to claim trip or fall compensation. Now we discuss what duty of care is owed to you in different places.

Can I Make A Slip, Trip, And Fall Claim After An Accident In A Public Place?

The Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 states that anyone in charge of a public space (occupiers) owe a duty of care to every public member that lawfully visits their space. To comply with their duty of care, occupiers must take steps to ensure the public’s reasonable safety and to remove the risk of injury.

Here are some steps that occupiers are expected to take to comply with their duty of care:

  • Implement measures of health and safety. For example, putting warning signs out by the side of a pool in a leisure centre to warn visitors of the wet floor. 
  • Respond to any hazards that have been reported as promptly as possible. For example, if there has been a report of a broken pavement slab, this should be repaired promptly. 
  • Regularly risk assess the equipment and facilities within the space. For example, ensure that a water fountain has proper maintenance and that there are no spillages. 

If you suffered an injury in a slip, trip or fall due to an occupier breaching their duty of care, you may be able to make a public liability claim.

Can I Make A Slip, Trip, And Fall Claim After An Accident At Work?

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 states that all employers owe a duty of care to their employees. To comply with their duty of care, employers must take reasonable steps to ensure their employees’ safety and to remove the risk of injury.  

Here are some steps that employers are expected to take to comply with their duty of care:

  • Respond to any hazards that have been reported as promptly as possible. For example, putting a wet floor sign out as soon as there is awareness that there is a spillage. 
  • Provide the appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). For example, the correct footwear such as steel toe boots. 
  • Provide the appropriate training, such as manual handling training

If you have been injured from a fall either at work or in public, contact us today. Our team can tell you whether you have a valid slip and fall claim

How Common Are Slips, Trips and Falls And What Are The Causes?

Slips, trips and falls statistics graph

You may be wondering, “what is the most common cause of slips, trips and falls?” The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) gives guidance on how workplaces can protect employees’ welfare. It also provides work-related injury statistics that occur in Great Britain. This includes supplying data on slips, trips and falls in the workplace. As you can see above, in the latest available statistics, slips, trips, and falls on the same level make up 29% of the injuries caused by accidents in work environments (as reported by employers). 

This is considerably more than any other reported type of incident. In comparison, lifting, handling and carrying is 19% and being struck by a moving object accounts for 11% of reported incidents. However, it’s important to note that these types of accidents don’t just happen in workplaces

Slip trip and fall claims can originate in many different places, including supermarkets or parks. Whether you’re able to claim successfully depends on proving that the resulting injury was caused by third-party negligence. We’ll now explain what this means.  

How Do You Prove A Slip and Trip Case?

To prove a claim for a fall, you must have evidence that shows that a responsible third party breached their legal duty of care, and you became injured as a result of this. 

Some useful types of evidence include:

  • CCTV footage of your fall. 
  • Witness contact details. 
  • Medical reports, including copies of your medical notes that state how you have exactly been injured. 
  • Pictures of the scene at the time of the incident
  • A list of procedures/medication you’ve had to help with the recovery.
  • A symptoms diary. 

Our panel of No Win No Fee solicitors can help you gather evidence if you have a valid slip and trip claim. So, get in touch with us today to see whether you may be eligible to work with one of them. 

Is there a personal injury claims time limit? 

There is a time limit regarding making trip and fall claims. In most instances, you have three years from the incident or three years from the date you became aware that the injury was caused by negligence to claim. This is established in the Limitation Act 1980. It’s important to bear this in mind, as if you attempt to claim outside of this time period, your claim won’t be successful. However, there are exceptions to this time limit.

If you’re a child and you want to claim for injuries that weren’t your fault, you have three years from the date of your eighteenth birthday to claim. Alternatively, a litigation friend could claim on your behalf before this.

Furthermore, there is no time limit if you lack the mental capacity to claim. A guardian or a friend can claim on your behalf by becoming your litigation friend. The three-year time limit would begin from the date of recovery.

Why not contact our advisors to ensure that you’re within the time limit to claim?

Slips, Trips and Falls Examples

Examples of incidents that could result in you making a No Win No Fee compensation claim include: 

  • Suffering slips, trips, and falls in the workplace due to the environment you’re working in. For instance, your employer doesn’t provide you with the appropriate personal protective equipment necessary for your role (such as particular work shoes). Because of this, you suffer an injury, such as a leg injury and possibly nerve damage too, when you fall.
  • Making a claim for falling on the pavement. Many public places are controlled by the local council. If a paving stone is several inches further off the ground than the others, it could cause you to trip. Slips, trips and falls like this can be prevented if sufficient health and safety checks are done. 
  • Slipping on a hospital floor. This could lead to you looking up whether you can claim for slips, trips and falls in a hospital. If the slip was caused by water being on the floor with no warnings signs present (though it was noticed by staff), you might be able to claim compensation. 

Make A No Win No Fee Personal Injury Claim

Agreeing to claim on a No Win No Fee basis can have many benefits. This is because: 

  • Claiming for slips, trips and falls in this manner means you won’t have to pay solicitor fees either upfront or during the claims process. 
  • Instead, a small, legally capped portion of the compensation would be taken by your personal injury lawyer upon your claim being successful. 
  • Furthermore, you won’t need to pay any solicitor fees if your claim isn’t successful. 

Our panel of solicitors offer their services on a No Win No Fee basis. Therefore, you could claim for slip, trip and fall injuries through this method. 

Learn More About Personal Injury Claims

Call to speak to one of our advisors at a time that works for you. They’re available 24/7 and offer free legal advice. Therefore, if you’re unsure whether you’re able to claim, we can answer any of your questions in one quick phone call. Furthermore, our panel of No Win No Fee lawyers have years of experience with cases relating to slips, trips and falls. Our contact details are below.   

  • You can call us using the phone number above. 
  • Use the live chat function on your screen to get through to one of our advisors. 
  • Contact us via our website. 

More Resources On Personal Injury Claims

For more information about slips, trips and falls, please use the links below. 

The HSE also provides case studies that help spread awareness about accidents in the workplace. 

To know more about managing risks and risk assessment at work, click on this HSE webpage. 

Do you think you may have suffered a broken bone? If so, visit the NHS website to learn more. 

Why not check out more of our personal injury claims guides below:

Written by DUR

Published by VIC