Most of the time, thankfully, tripping and falling is a minor matter which causes more damage to our ego than anything else. Sometimes, however, it can prove to be much more serious. A simple trip over an uneven paving stone or a slip on a wet tiled floor can, if you land awkwardly, result in serious injury. Broken bones, trauma to the head and whiplash are amongst the more severe ramifications and what may sound like a trivial mishap can end up having a major impact upon every area of your life.
If you’ve fallen and it was a result of your own clumsiness or lack of awareness then there’s really little more to do than pick yourself up, dust yourself off and resolve to be more careful in the future. If your fall came about as the result of another party’s negligence, however, then you have every right to seek compensation in order to ensure that those responsible play a part in helping you to recover. A successful claim in a case such as this will consist of proving that you suffered an injury as a result of your fall, and that the fall was caused because someone else failed to maintain a safe environment.
If, for example, you’re walking around a supermarket and the floor is wet, then the owners of the supermarket have a responsibility to put up warning signs. If they fail to do so and you subsequently step and slip on the hazardous surface then your injuries become their responsibility, meaning that they ought to pay compensation to you. In a more generalised public place such as the street it’s the responsibility of the local council to ensure that the surface is safe to walk on.
If you trip on a paving stone which is uneven then you may be able to claim for compensation. The case will rest upon exactly how uneven the paving stone in question is, and whether the council have had a reasonable length of time to correct it. Other public places include train stations, shopping malls, airports and your place of work, but wherever you fall, if it wasn’t your fault then someone, somewhere, should be expected to provide you with compensation.
