By Lewis Hendrix. Last Updated 1st August 2023. Welcome to our spillage injury claims guide. If you’ve slipped on liquid, ice or another surface due to another person’s negligence, this guide shows you if you could claim compensation.
It isn’t uncommon for someone to injure themselves after slipping on a spillage. For example, if you’re injured in a supermarket because you slipped on liquid that employees were aware of but didn’t clear up or appropriately mark with a caution sign, you could be looking into spillage injury claims. That’s where we aim to help you.
If you were injured in public or at work and it was not your fault, then you could be entitled to make a spillage injury claim. In other words, you could claim compensation for the harm you have experienced.
How to make spillage injury claims
Premises accessible to the public are actually under a legal obligation to take reasonable steps to protect your safety. This could be done by preventing spills or dealing with them swiftly in order to eliminate the accidents that lead to people getting hurt.
Employers also have a duty to protect your health and safety in the workplace. Cleaning up when something has been spilt on the floor isn’t just a matter of hygiene and appearance, it is also a matter of health and safety.
If you would like to know more about how you could be entitled to make a compensation claim, you can contact our team of advisors in order to receive free legal advice. This team could also offer you the support of a lawyer.
To get in touch, please call 0800 073 8801, or fill out this page in order to request a phone call from our advice team. You could also reach them by sending a message through our live chat. We could help you start a claim for compensation.
Select A Section
- A Guide To Spillage Injury Claims
- What Is A Spillage Injury Claim?
- Work-Related Spillage Injury Claims – Have You Slipped On Liquid At Work?
- Oil Spillages On The Road
- Spillage Injury Claims Against Restaurants – Have You Slipped On Liquid In A Restaurant Or Cafe?
- Spillage Injury Claims Shops And Retailers
- I Suffered A Spillage Injury In A Public Place, Can I Still Claim?
- Calculate Compensation For Spillage Injury Claims
- Examples Of Special Damages For Slipped On Liquid Injury Claims
- No Win No Fee Spillage Injury Claims
- Begin A Spillage Injury Claim If You’ve Slipped On Liquid
- Injury Claim Resources Related To Slipped On Liquid Injuries
A Guide To Spillage Injury Claims
Slipping on something that has been spilt might sound like a trivial and mundane accident, but it could result in you getting seriously hurt. And, more importantly, it could well be actually something that was reasonably preventable. Causing someone to slip and fall on a spillage could make a party liable for a compensation claim.
This guide is an introduction to how such claims work and how you could make them. We are going to explain some of the different situations are in which slipping accidents could occur and what you could do about claiming compensation for them.
This guide also contains pointers on:
- Gathering evidence to support your claim.
- Getting in touch with our team of advisors and experts about working with a lawyer to help you make a claim.
- What kind of compensation you could be entitled to claim.
- How this amount will be calculated,
If there is more that you would like to know about this guide or your claim, contact our advisors. They’re available 24/7 and offer free legal advice.
What Is A Spillage Injury Claim?
If you suffer injuries in a spillage accident that was not your fault, you could be eligible to make a compensation claim. Spillage injury claims could be made for the physical injuries, mental injuries and the financial expense caused by spillages.
As this guide will go on to explain, employers, public authorities and private business operators have certain responsibilities when it comes to the maintenance and running of their property. These responsibilities include a duty of care to visitors’ or employee’s safety.
They are expected to do all that is reasonably possible to ensure that the risk of avoidable accidents has been addressed. One of the more common types of accidents that could occur is a slip and fall caused by a spillage. This means that the employer or controller of the premises generally has a responsibility to make sure that spills are prevented, cleaned up or marked as a hazard as soon as possible.
If you are injured by slipping and falling over because of someone else’s negligence, you could be entitled to make a personal injury claim. This would be a claim for compensation for the harm you have experienced financially, physically or psychologically.
Work-Related Spillage Injury Claims – Have You Slipped On Liquid At Work?
A spillage could cause you to suffer a slip and fall and, subsequently, an injury. This could particularly be a risk on smooth, flat surfaces such as linoleum and on stairs. Allowing hazardous spillages in areas where employees or members of the public will be walking is against the duty of care of an employer or a property owner to keep their premises safe.
You could suffer quite a serious injury from something as simple as falling over. Those vulnerable to injury or those with pre-existing injuries are particularly at risk of being hurt by slipping on spillages.
If a fall causes you to land on something, such as the corner of a hard object, or on something sharp, such as broken glass, you could suffer a major injury.
Work-Related Spillage Injury Claims
An employer is responsible for ensuring that their workplace is a safe environment under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Therefore, keeping the workplace safe from the risk of injuries caused by slips, trips and falls is one of an employer’s responsibilities.
They should ensure that regulations are in place so spills and leaks are (for example) cleaned up, marked out with wet floor signs and, if possible, prevented from occurring in the first place.
In a workplace where there is water or other liquids present, there could be a greater danger of a spillage causing an accident.
If you suffer an injury caused by slipping and falling over on a wet floor in the workplace, you could be entitled to make a compensation claim against your employer.
Could I Claim For Someone Who Has Slipped On Liquid If They Died?
If you are wondering how common it could be for someone to slip on liquid at work and it led to their death, we could take a look at the Health and Safety Executive statistics for 2021’s fatal injuries. During this time, 142 workers suffered fatal injuries in workplace accidents. While there are no mentions of having slipped on liquid in the causes, falls from height were the top cause of such incidents. These could potentially happen if someone slips on liquid at work that is not been cleaned away and they are working at height. You can see the common causes of workplace fatalities during 2021 below.
Could I make spillage injury claims for someone who has suffered fatal injuries?
If you have sadly lost someone you loved due to a workplace accident involving them having slipped on a spillage, you could claim compensation that could cover the cost of their funeral. You would need to prove their employer breached their duty of care leading to the fatality of your loved one. In some cases, you could also be awarded damages for bereavement, and loss of financial support as a dependent. If you would like to speak to us about making such claims, we’d be happy to talk with you. We could help you fight for the maximum compensation for the loss of your loved one. We understand that no compensation award would ever make up for you having lost your loved one. However, it could help to reduce the financial burden a wrongful death of a loved one has had on your family.
Oil Spillages On The Road
You should report oil or petrol spillages on the road surface. The reason for this is that oil and diesel spills could lead to a road traffic accident by causing vehicles to skid and lose control.
The police and the fire services might also be required to help. The road could be cordoned off until the spillage has been dealt with.
If an accident has occurred as a result of an oil spill and people have been injured, those victims could be entitled to make a road traffic accident claim against the party responsible for causing the accident.
The liable party could include:
- A driver who caused the spillage by crashing as a result of their own negligent driving.
- A company that transported oil in an unsafe manner, leading to the spill.
If you have suffered an injury in a road traffic accident caused by an oil spill, then consider calling us to discuss whether or not you could be entitled to make a personal injury claim.
Why is a diesel spillage on the road so dangerous?
Diesel spillages on a road surface can turn the surface slippery. In fact, diesel on a road surface can be as slippery as ice and you may not see any warning signs that they are there.
Deisel especially poses a danger to motorcyclists whose vehicles are lighter and only use two wheels. They could therefore be more vulnerable to losing control through poor road conditions than motorists.
Diesel spillages are especially dangerous when they are on sections of roads where slipperiness poses the greatest risk of causing an accident. Such sections include:
- Turns in the road
- Junctions
- Roundabouts
Spillage Injury Claims Against Restaurants – Have You Slipped On Liquid In A Restaurant Or Cafe?
It is not hard to imagine how a spillage could create a potentially dangerous slippery floor in a restaurant. With servers constantly walking back and forth, carrying food and drinks for hours on end, spillages seem inevitable.
There could be a higher risk of people slipping and falling over on spillages if the restaurant is busy and not well-staffed. Cooking oils used in food preparation in the kitchen could cause a slipping hazard to employees.
You might suffer an injury due to a slip and fall on a wet floor. It may be that someone cleaning hadn’t used the appropriate caution signage. Perhaps a dropped drink caused the spillage, in which case the injury could include cuts from broken glass.
Under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957, those in control of premises or property accessible to the public, have a duty to take reasonable precautions to protect visitors’ health and safety. So, if abiding by this duty, restaurants may have a policy of cleaning up spills as soon as they can possibly be dealt with.
If a customer or an employee is injured in an accident caused by slipping on a spilt liquid in a restaurant, they could have the right to make a claim for compensation.
Spillage Injury Claims Shops And Retailers
Businesses have a duty of care to their customers, meaning that they should take reasonable steps to protect their safety. If someone is hurt due to their negligence, they could be held accountable by being subject to a claim for personal injury compensation.
One of the things that a shop could be expected to do for the sake of customer and employee safety is to ensure that spillages are cleaned up, or at least marked out with a wet floor sign until they can be remedied. The same goes for floors that are wet from being mopped.
Spills could occur from mop buckets being accidentally overturned or items such as drinks falling from their displays and breaking. The floors could also be wet on rainy days when people are tracking water and mud in on their shoes.
The controller of the premises has a responsibility to take steps to prevent injuries and address hazards. For more information about other kinds of supermarket accident that you could suffer injury from and how to claim compensation for it, get in touch with our advisors.
I Suffered A Spillage Injury In A Public Place, Can I Still Claim?
If you have slipped and fallen while out in a public place and it was caused by the party in control of the premises, land or property, then you may be entitled to make a compensation claim.
If the party was a private business, then you may be entitled to claim compensation on the basis that they failed to uphold their duty of care to keep their premises safe for public operation.
Should the accident have occurred on local council premises, then the claim could be made against them, providing it was their fault. For example, if you slipped and fell on a spillage or on a wet floor while in a local library or sports centre operated by the local authority, then the council could be liable. This would be on the basis that employees were aware of the spillage and didn’t appropriately respond.
If the injury occurred on local council or government property outdoors, then there is a chance that you could be entitled to make a compensation claim. For example, pavements and public footpaths may fall under the control of the local authority. If you slipped and fell on ice, you could be entitled to make a compensation claim if the council had a responsibility to ensure pathways were safe, but did not adequately de-ice the pavement.
However, local authorities do not always have an obligation to keep all streets free from ice. If you are unsure about whether you could be entitled to make a compensation claim for an accident in a public place, contact our team of experts for free legal advice.
What Injuries Could A Spillage Accident Or Having Slipped On Liquid Cause?
If you suffer injuries in a spillage accident that was not your fault, you could be eligible to make a compensation claim. Claims could be made for the physical injuries, mental injuries and the financial expense caused by spillages.
There are lots of injuries you could receive in a spillage incident. Some examples are below:
- If you suffer a slip, trip or fall due to your spillage accident, you could put out your hands to protect yourself from falling. This could lead to you injuring your hand, thumb, fingers or wrist. It could even lead to a soft tissue injury to the arms, and could dislocate your wrist or shoulder.
- Should you trip and fall because of a spillage and hurt your leg, you could suffer torn ligaments, ankle damage, a foot injury or even a broken leg.
- If a spillage caused you to fall from a height could lead to serious injuries to the pelvis, hip and spine. You could also suffer head injuries. A serious head injury could even lead to brain damage.
- Should a spillage accident cause you to fear you were about to lose your life, you could also claim for mental trauma and psychological injuries.
- Unfortunately, if a spillage caused a very serious injury to someone, it could be fatal. If a loved one has lost their life with a fatal injury because of a spillage, you may be able to claim compensation for your loss, and to cover funeral expenses and other costs.
Time Limit For Spillage Injury Claims
If you have suffered an injury following a spillage accident, you will have 3 years from the date of the incident to bring forward a personal injury claim. The time limit is set out under the Limitation Act 1980, and certain exceptions may apply.
For example, if a child is injured in a slip and fall accident, they will be unable to start a claim until their 18th birthday. From this date, they will have 3 years to begin proceedings. However, prior to this date, a litigation friend could start a claim on their behalf.
The time limit is suspended indefinitely for those who lack the mental capacity to make their own claim. A litigation friend could act on their behalf during this time. Should they regain this capacity and a claim was not already started for them, they will have three years to do so from the date of recovery.
To see whether you still have enough time to begin your personal injury claim, you can contact our advisory team.
Calculate Compensation For Spillage Injury Claims
Calculating compensation for having slipped on liquid is done by looking at the severity of the impacts of your injury on your health. There are a number of different factors that go into working out what this figure should be. They include, but are not limited to:
- How much treatment and time is needed to recover from your injury.
- The level of disability you have suffered or are suffering.
- The risk of future pain or health problems.
It is a detailed matter and each compensation sum is unique to the claimant. Therefore, we won’t be able to tell you the amount of personal injury compensation you could be entitled to in this guide. However, our advisors can offer free estimations.
We can also show you what the figures for certain types of injuries might look like through the table below. If you would like to discuss what your injuries could be valued at, call our advisors using the contact details at the top and bottom of this page.
| Injury | Severity | Recommended Amount | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Back Injury | Severe (i) | £85,470 to £151,070 | Injuries resulting in severe pain, disability or significantly impaired bladder, bowel, or sexual function. |
| Back Injury | Moderate (i) | £26,050 to £36,390 | Injuries include a prolapsed intervertebral disc requiring surgery. |
| Back Injury | Minor (i) | £7,410 to £11,730 | A full recovery or almost full recovery occurs without surgery within about 2 to 5 years. |
| Shoulder Injury | Severe | £18,020 to £45,070 | Includes injuries involving damage to the brachial plexus. |
| Shoulder Injury | Moderate | £7,410 to £11,980 | Frozen shoulder with limited mobility and discomfort with symptoms for about 2 years. |
| Shoulder Injury | Minor (i) | £4,080 to £7,410 | Injuries that cause substantial pain but recovery within less than 2 years. |
| Fracture of Clavicle | Fracture of Clavicle | £4,830 to £11,490 | Unusually serious injuries may exceed these figures. |
| Injuries to the Pelvis and Hips | Severe (i) | £73,580 to £122,860 | Extensive fractures of the pelvis with substantial residual disabilities. |
| Injuries to the Pelvis and Hips | Moderate (i) | £24,950 to £36,770 | Serious injury but any disability is not major and future risk aren’t highly likely. |
| Injuries to the Pelvis and Hips | Lesser Injuries (ii) | Up to £3,710 | Minor soft tissue injuries that lead to a full recovery. |
Examples Of Special Damages For Slipped On Liquid Injury Claims
Special damages are the portion of your compensation payout that could be awarded. That’s providing you are able to successfully claim for financial losses that you have had to deal with as a consequence of your injury.
In order to claim special damages, you would have to provide supporting evidence in the form of invoices and receipts, for example. The following are some of the different types of financial losses or expenditures caused by injuries that could be claimed back under special damages.
- Medical Expenses
You could end up paying for your medical treatment, or part of it. You may purchase medication for your health issues. Keep hold of your invoices, prescriptions or receipts in order to claim back these costs as part of your special damages.
- Travel Costs
Keep hold of any public transport tickets or receipts from journeys incurred as a result of your injury. For example, you may have to take trips to hospitals or clinics while you receive treatment. You could claim back these costs as your special damages.
- Lost income
If you take sick leave, are forced to leave your job, become disabled and unable to work, or miss out on pay rises or bonuses because of an injury, you could claim back the lost income under special damages. Keep hold of work contracts and wage slips in order to claim back loss of earnings under special damages.
- Damaged property
If you have had your belongings damaged due to a slip and fall, such as a phone or a coat, you could be entitled to compensation. To claim this type of special damages compensation, you could provide proof of the cost of it or repair expenses.
No Win No Fee Spillage Injury Claims
You may be considering using a personal injury lawyer to help you recover compensation. We would like you to be able to make a claim without having to worry about how you are going to be able to afford the services of a solicitor.
Affording a solicitor could be difficult if your financial situation has been impacted by the injury or the damage to your property.
To help you to avoid getting into a tricky financial situation like this, our lawyers offer No Win No Fee claim agreements. This is a type of legal agreement where you allow your lawyer to have a small part of your compensation. However, this is only in the event that their work results in your successful case.
You will not be obliged to pay the solicitor’s fees if your compensation claim is a failure.
Other benefits include:
- No upfront solicitor fees.
- No ongoing solicitor fees.
- You only pay the solicitor their fee once the compensation has come through.
To see if you have a valid claim, get in touch through any of the methods below.
Begin A Spillage Injury Claim If You’ve Slipped On Liquid
Our advisors are ready to take your call whenever you are. They are on-hand 24/7 and offer free legal advice. You’re also under no obligation to proceed with our services if you don’t want to. To find out more:
- Call 0800 073 8801.
- Fill in this page.
- Send a message through the live chat.
Injury Claim Resources Relating To Slipped On Liquid Injuries
Guide to slip and trip accident claims
Guide to slip injuries caused by a supermarket
Slip, trip claim against the council
HSE guide on cleaning up spills
HSE – slips on contaminated floors
Information on local government de-icing roads
We hope you have enjoyed our spillage injury claims guide. If you’ve slipped on liquid, ice or another surface due to another person’s negligence, this guide has now shown if you could claim compensation.
