Tripped and been Injured while Running or Jogging? The Injury Lawyers Advice

For those of you that like to maintain a healthy lifestyle, jogging or running is a great way to achieve this. When you walk around you are not expected to look at the floor to watch out for hazards on the ground, and when you are jogging or running you are probably concentrating even less on the ground.

So what happens if you trip and fall or stumble because of a pothole or a raised paving stone, or some other defect on the ground? Can you still make a claim for personal injury even if you were jogging or running at the time?
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Tripped on an Uneven Drain Cover? Make a claim today!

As a firm of lawyers who only represent victims for accident claims, we take on a significant amount of claims for personal injury compensation involving drain and manhole covers. It’s fairly obvious to see why – many covers don’t appear to be of sound constructions, and many are driven over day in and day out by vehicles.

It’s common for covers to become tripping hazards when they either come loose and protrude, or sink down and cause a lip. To the unsuspecting walker, tripping and landing hard on the ground can cause some serious injuries.
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Slipped on Stairs Causing Back Pain – Injury Lawyers Advice

If you are fortunate enough to avoid falling down a flight of steps to the point of breaking something, it’s still highly likely you will end up with some form of pain or injury by slipping on stairs. Back pain is very common for two main reasons – the first is that you may slip and fall backwards and hit your back on the steps; the other is that the force of the slip may cause a whiplash type injury by jarring your back.

Your Rights

You do not need to have broken anything or have been seriously injured to make a claim for personal injury compensation from slipping on steps. So don’t think that you are unable to claim because you are still in one piece! That being said, a back injury can be very painful and can lost a considerable period of time; so you may well be entitled to make a claim.
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Trip Accident Claims from Protruding Objects

Commonly a claim for personal injury for tripping will either be pursued against an employer if it was at work, against an occupier if it was in a public place like a shop, or the council if it was on public grounds. The difference between who is potentially at fault actually has a significant impact on how good your claim is; so to make things easy, I’ll split this article up for you in to three sections for each of the above.

Tripping Accident at Work

There are all sorts of rules and regulations that employers are duty bound to adhere to. The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 have a specific section for this as follows:
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Fall on Wobbly Paving Slab, Making a Claim Against the Council

If you have tripped on a wobbly paving slab on a public street then it is likely that we could make a claim under the Highways Act 1980. An alternative is tripping on a wobbly tile or slab that forms as part of a private property, which would then normally fall under the Occupiers Liability Act 1957 if the property was not your workplace. This blog post will discuss the law, liability and negligence by those whom have breached their duty on a public highway and fall under the Highways Act.

Who is to blame?

Those to blame for wobbly paving slabs could include the relevant public authority, the highways agency, or perhaps another company who has been outsourced the highway maintenance contract. If you have tripped on a wobbly paving slab and reported it to the wrong authority, then those who you have reported it to should inform you it is owned by someone else. For example, if you have fallen on a wobbly paving slab whilst walking home and report it to your local council, they may say that the highways agency have authority over that area so you should report it to them.
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Slips from Leaking Fridges and Freezers in Supermarkets

When fridges and freezers leak in a supermarket the residue can cause people to slip on the smooth floors. If you have slipped in a supermarket, the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 places a duty upon the supermarkets, as occupiers, to not cause you harm.

What duty does the supermarket owe?

The supermarket owes the common duty of care to anyone who enters the premises unless they restrict this. This means that the customer who enters the store will be reasonably safe to do the shopping. In addition to this, supermarkets must be aware that children are likely to be less careful than adults.
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Slipping Accidents Compensation

Slipping accidents are very common in everyday life. We come across slipping accidents in supermarkets/shops as well as slipping accidents in the workplace all the time. If you have slipped and sustained injury and it was not your fault, you may well be entitled to claim compensation.

This type of accident would come under something known as occupier’s liability (if it happened in a supermarket or shop for example). Basically the occupier of premises is under a duty to keep the premises reasonably safe and to keep people on the premises safe and free from harm. Under occupier’s liability, there is a different level of care depending if the person on the premises is legally there (i.e. a visitor to a supermarket) or if the person is there illegally (i.e. is a trespasser). It is surprising for many but trespassers (that is someone on the premises illegally) are still owed a duty of care. Trespassers may be able to claim if they sustain injury on the premises. However most people will of course be legal visitors, such as when you enter a supermarket or shop to browse or to buy shopping.
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Slipped on Fruit at Supermarket Compensation Claims

We don’t expect to sustain a personal injury when we are out in a supermarket doing our weekly (or daily for some) shop. The good news is that you are well protected if you do sustain injury that was not your fault in a supermarket. Basically the Occupiers Liability Act applies and this Act (or law) ensures that the supermarket in question owes you a duty of care when you are in the store doing your shopping. Indeed unlawful visitors are also owed a duty of care. However the level of care owed to lawful visitors is naturally greater than the level of care owed to unlawful visitors (known as trespassers).

To be an occupier the supermarket need not even own the store, it merely needs to have occupational control of it. Therefore the term occupier is quite wide in its definition. The level of care required is set out in Section 2 (2) of the Occupiers Liability Act 1957. This reads as follows:
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Slips, Trips and the Law at Work

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 were brought in to assess risks and take action to ensure the health and safety of the users of floors.

How Employers should prevent slips and trips!

Employers should assess the risk of slips and trips in the workplace to protect both the employees and other users of the floor. Every employer should make arrangements relative to their size and organisation to review the preventative and protective measures which could be taken to avoid risks. Employers should ensure that their employees are provided with such health surveillance which is appropriate, which has regard to any risks which have been identified from their assessment.
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Wet Floor Claims 100% Compensation

We have dealt with many claims for victims who have sustained injury following a slipping accident. It goes to prove that wet floors are dangerous and can lead to accidents and injuries. Most commonly these accidents occur in supermarkets, shops, or at work. Basically when you are out shopping in a supermarket or shop, you are on premises owned and occupied by others. This comes under the term “Occupiers Liability“. The occupier of premises (i.e. the supermarket or shop) owes a duty of care to those entering the shop. Indeed there is even a duty owed to unlawful visitors (known as trespassers). The duty owed to trespassers is less than the duty owed to lawful visitors (i.e. customers to the store).

When there is a spillage in a store it should be cleaned up as soon as possible. Until it is cleaned up a wet floor sign should be erected to warn of the danger. Even if a wet floor sign was present, this does not mean that you cannot claim. There are other things to consider, such as whether the wet floor sign was clearly visible to you. You may often see a member of staff stood close to the wet floor to highlight and warn of the danger.
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