Wet floors are responsible for many of the 600,000 slips and trips that require hospital treatment each year in the UK. Slipping on a wet floor can result in painful injuries such as torn ligaments, bruises, abrasions and broken bones. Of course, floors need to be cleaned, but whether you are at a place of work, in the local supermarket or in a public building, people have an obligation to keep you safe, which means if you slip on a wet surface, you may be able to make a claim for damages.
Signage
If you slip or trip and hurt yourself because you weren’t looking where you were going, you cannot make a claim for damages as it is nobody’s fault but your own. However, one of the reasons a wet floor is so hazardous is that it can be difficult to see, which is why anybody cleaning a floor in a public building, shop or workplace has to erect signage to indicate the floor is wet. If this signage is prominent and clear and you fail to heed the warning and slip, again, you cannot claim for damages as the person cleaning the floor has not been negligent.
Negligence
You can only make a claim for damages if you injure yourself after slipping on a wet floor and somebody has been negligent. Negligence means that people haven’t acted responsibly and have failed in their duty of care. Failing to put up adequate signage to warn people a floor may be wet, could be deemed as negligent, which means you may have a case to claim for damages.
Personal injury
If you have been inured after slipping on a wet floor and think somebody else was negligent, you can make a claim for personal injury. Even a slight injury that causes you pain could be cause to make a claim. Often, people fail to realise that what seems like a minor injury at first, can develop into something much more serious later on, which is why you should always consult a doctor after a wet floor slip, especially of you are considering making a claim for damages.
