Have you suffered an injury as a result of a slip and fall in a supermarket or shopping centre? We can help you investigate whether or not you can claim for compensation.
Shopping centres and supermarkets have a duty of care to customers to ensure the premises are kept clean and safe. Unfortunately, too often customers are injured due to poor cleaning practices resulting in spills which are all too easy to slip on and cause injury.
In the High Court decision of Strong v Woolworths Ltd [2012] HCA 5 Katherine Strong sued Woolworths Ltd (and another party) for compensation as a result of injuries caused by slipping and falling on a hot chip while on their premises. Katherine Strong argued that Woolworths Ltd had been negligent because at the time they had failed to have a proper system of cleaning in place.
The High Court found that Woolworths Ltd had been negligent for failing to ensure a proper system of cleaning was in place. The High Court also said that a system of cleaning and inspection within a 15-20 minute rotation would have been sufficient and could have prevented the incident occurring.
As a result of this decision, cleaning contractors, shopping centres and supermarkets all attempt to ensure that a system of cleaning and inspection is put in place on a 15-20 minute rotation. In order to prove negligence, it must be shown that this system has not been followed and that the spill had been on the floor for a sufficient period to find a party negligent for failing to clean it earlier.
What does this mean for my case and how can I see whether the Council had “actual knowledge”?
We can assist you in investigating your case against a supermarket or shopping centre on a “no win no fee” basis. This means, if we investigate your case and find that the supermarket or shopping centre had a proper system of cleaning and inspection in place at the time of your incident, you do not have to pay us for the work that we have done.
If you would like us to investigate your case, we will write to the supermarket or shopping centre and confirm that we act for you and request that they provide us with information regarding their cleaners, inspection records, CCTV footage and the incident report. This information will help us to determine whether their system of cleaning was sufficient and in place at the time of your fall.
Our accredited specialist personal injury lawyers can undertake an investigation into your slip and fall case on a “no win no fee” basis to determine whether or not you are eligible to claim compensation.
