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Accidents involving slips and trips are some of the most common types of accidents that people have.  Whether you are injured on the pavement, a road, a shop, restaurant or any other public place as a result of a defect or other hazardous situation, you may be entitled to make a personal injury claim. 

Every occupier of land or buildings, whether a shop, office, home, farm or factory, has a duty to take reasonable care for the safety of visitors.

There are many different situations where people may suffer a personal injury as a result of a slip or trip.  Slips are very common in public places, such as shops and restaurants where a person may have walked on a wet surface, oil or other slippery materials on the floor.  Slips are also common over the winter months as a result of ice and snow.

The most common causes of slip and trip accidents are spillages which leave the floor indoors slippery or badly maintained paths, which cause raised sections of ground. Trips and slips also frequently happen within the workplace when walkways are obstructed or carpets are not fitted properly.

Examples of personal injury claims for slips and trips 

If you slip on a puddle of water inside a building which is open to the public, such as a shop, a supermarket, a bank or a restaurant and have suffered an injury as a result, the personal injury compensation claim would be made against the occupier’s public liability insurance policy.

If your accident was on a council owned property such as a public footpath or a council house rented out to a member of the public, then you may be able to make a personal injury compensation claim against the local authority if the accident was due to their negligence. For example, you may be able to make a personal injury compensation claim if you tripped and injured yourself on a badly maintained footpath; however, you would not be able to make a personal injury compensation claim against the council if you tripped on an item left lying around within a council owned property by the tenant unless you could show that the council itself was in some way at fault. You could of course claim against the tenant but this is unlikely to be worthwhile unless the tenant has relevant insurance cover. Likewise if such an accident occurred on public property during the course of your employment you may have a claim against your employer depending on the circumstances.

• If your accident was on private property such as a house or piece of land privately owned by an individual, you would be able to make a personal injury compensation claim providing the accident was the fault of the land owner or occupier and they had suitable insurance in force.

• If you tripped on a cable trailing along the floor in your office at work and injured yourself, you would be able to make a personal injury compensation claim against your employer.