I Fell Down The Stairs At Work – Could I Claim Compensation?

By Stephen Hudson. Last Updated 18th August 2023. In this guide, we explain when and how you may be able to claim compensation if you were injured after you fell down the stairs at work. If you have been injured due to your employer breaching their duty of care, you may have grounds to pursue a personal injury claim. We will explain what your employer’s duty of care is in more depth within this guide, and how a breach of this could cause you to suffer an injury from falling down the stairs.

We’ll also share examples of the evidence that could be used to help support your case. This guide will also discuss the heads of claim that could be awarded for successful personal injury claims, and how compensation is calculated. We’ll also provide a list of benefits of making your claim with the help of a No Win No Fee solicitor.

For more advice on claiming for injuries after falling down the stairs at work, you can contact our advisors for free. They are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can get in touch with them by:

• Calling 0800 073 8804
• Using our online contact page.
• Sending us a message through our 24/7 live chat support.

Fell down stairs at work

Select A Section

1. What Is A Fall Down The Stairs At Work?
2. I Feel Down The Stairs At Work – Am I Eligible To Claim?
3. What Could Cause Someone To Fall Down The Stairs At Work?
4. Injuries You Could Claim For After Falling Down Stairs
5. Calculating Compensation for Falling Down Stairs at Work
6. More Payouts After Falling Down The Stairs
7. The Criteria For Claiming For A Fall Down The Stairs At Work
8. No Win No Fee Claims After You Fell Down The Stairs

What Is A Fall Down The Stairs At Work?

If you suffer injuries in a fall down stairs, you may wonder if you are eligible for compensation. To claim, you will need to prove that you were owed a duty of care and that when this was breached, you suffered injuries.

While you are at work, your employer owes you a duty of care under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HASAWA). This states that your employer must take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of their employees.

As part of their duty, they are required to carry out risk assessments. This is set out in the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. This includes taking reasonable steps to prevent someone falling down the stairs, such as ensuring there is adequate lighting on the stairwell. We look further into what steps an employer can take to prevent accidents on the stairs in the next section.

If you injure yourself because your employer did not carry out sufficient risk assessments or identified a hazard and did not take steps to make the stairs safe, you could have a valid claim. However, you will need to submit evidence. We look at examples of evidence that could be useful later in this guide.

If you fell down the stairs, call our advisors for free advice. They can assess the potential of your claim and if it seems eligible, you could be passed onto one of our No Win No Fee solicitors.

I Feel Down The Stairs At Work – Am I Eligible To Claim?

In order to claim for injuries suffered when you fell down the stairs, you must be able to meet the personal injury claims eligibility criteria. This is:

• Your employer owed you a duty of care.
• They breached this.
• You suffered injuries as a result of this breach.

As we stated in the previous section, your employer owes you a duty of care under HASAWA. If they were to breach this, and you become injured as a result, you could be eligible to make a claim for compensation. Later in this guide, we will provide examples of the evidence you could collect to help support your personal injury claim.

If you have any questions about the eligibility to claim for injuries suffered when you fell down the stairs at work, please get in touch with one of the advisors from our team.

What Could Cause Someone To Fall Down The Stairs At Work?

As stated above, employers have to, by law, ensure that their work premises are a safe environment for their employees to work in. To do this, they need to ensure, within reason, that the workplace is free from potential hazards and risks that could jeopardise the employee’s safety and well-being.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidelines advise employers on risk management to prevent work-related accidents. This includes providing advice on how they can prevent employees suffering injuries from falling down stairs. The ways employers can reduce the risks include:

• Making sure the stairs are well lit.
• Ensuring that the handrails or bannisters are at the correct height and that they are well maintained and secure.
• Making sure the flooring, particularly at the edge of the stair, has good anti-slip properties.
• Ensuring that the edges of the stairs are well marked and noticeable.

Other necessary steps;

• Making sure that any carpet on or around the stairs is securely fitted to prevent a potential trip hazard. 
• Ensuring that items are not randomly left on the stairs or in the staircase area.
• Erecting wet floor signs when someone is cleaning the floor and or if there is a spillage or leak.
• Cleaning any spillages or leaks within a reasonable amount of time.

If your employer fails to take the necessary steps to reduce the risks of falling down the stairs, they would be in breach of their duty of care. If you fell downstairs at work due to this breach of the employer’s responsibility and suffered an injury, you may be able to claim compensation.

Injuries You Could Claim For After Falling Down Stairs

As we discussed above, per their duty of care, your employer should take reasonable steps to ensure the stairs in your workplace are safe to use. If they fail to do so, you could fall down the stairs and injure yourself.

Some examples of injuries you could suffer if you were to fall down the stairs include

• Broken bones. If the staircase isn’t well-lit, this could result in someone tripping and falling down the stairs and could result in a broken arm or leg.
• A head injury could occur if someone were to hit their head when they fell down the stairs.
• Back injuries could occur if someone lands with a jolt to the back or twists while falling.
• Sprains, such as a sprained ankle or wrist as someone tries to break their fall.

Call our advisors today if you are still wondering, ‘I fell down the stairs, could I make a personal injury claim?’ They could also help you with any other questions you may have and offer you free advice for your potential claim.

Calculating Compensation for Falling Down Stairs at Work

If you fell down the stairs due to third-party negligence and were injured as a result, you may be able to make a personal injury claim. General damages and special damages are the two potential heads of claim you could receive compensation through. General damages account for the physical and psychological pain caused by the injury. Special damages account for any financial losses caused because of it.

In relation to general damages, the Judicial College Guidelines could assist you by providing a clearer idea of what you could receive. Below are a list of injuries and their relevant compensation brackets. These figures have been taken from the latest guidelines that were published in April 2022.

If multiple you have sustained multiple injuries from falling down stairs, you could receive compensation for them all as part of the same claim. Furthermore, if a permanent or long-standing health condition has been exacerbated by negligence, you could still claim for this.

To learn more about what you could receive after a fall down stairs that has caused you injury, please contact our team of advisors for a free consultation. If you can prove that your injury was caused by negligence, our specialised solicitors could help you receive compensation.

More Payouts After Falling Down The Stairs

As previously mentioned, if you’ve suffered injuries from a fall down the stairs, your payout could also be made up of special damages compensation. Special damages compensate you for the financial losses you’ve suffered as a result of the injury.

Importantly, you must prove that your financial losses were a direct result of an accident caused by negligence. If you fell down the stairs, financial losses you could claim for include:

• Travel expenses
• Healthcare costs
• Loss of earnings. If your injury is long-term or permanent, you may be able to claim for loss of future earnings.
• Adjustments to your home
• Care costs. For example, the injuries after you fell down the stairs could lead to you being unable to look after yourself. If this is the case, you may need to pay for a nurse or other form of professional care.

You would need evidence to illustrate the value of the financial losses. This could include receipts, invoices or bank statements. If you’re wanting to claim for loss of earnings because you fell down the stairs, you would also need payslips.

The Criteria For Claiming For A Fall Down The Stairs At Work

As we’ve already mentioned, you must be able to prove that your fall down the stairs occurred because your employer breached their duty of care in order to claim accident at work compensation. A breach of duty of care that results in an injury is classed as negligence.

For example, if your employer was aware that one of the steps was broken but made no effort to fix or signpost this defect, this could cause you to fall on the stairs and suffer an injury, such as a broken ankle. In this case, you may be eligible to make a personal injury claim.

The Time Limits For Claiming If You Fall Down Stairs At Work

If you’ve been injured due to falling down the stairs, then you could be entitled to compensation if negligence was the cause. However, you should be aware of how long you have to make such a claim. As per the Limitation Act 1980, the typical time limit you have to begin a claim is 3 years from the date you sustained the injury.

If it was a child who fell down the stairs, then their time limit is suspended. It only begins once they turn 18. However, because children cannot make a claim for themselves, a litigation friend must be appointed to do so in order for a claim to be made before the injured child’s 18^th birthday.

A litigation friend must also be appointed to claim on behalf of an individual who has a reduced mental capacity. The claimant can only make their own claim once (or if) they recover or are deemed capable of pursuing their own claim. This date is also the beginning of their 3-year time limit. Before then, the time limit is suspended – as with child injury claims.

If you or someone you know has slipped down the stairs and would like to know more about time limits involved, reach out to our advisors today.

How Can I Prove An Trip And Fall Claim?

Are you considering starting a compensation claim for injuries such as back pain after falling down the stairs at work? If so, one of the first steps you should take after your accident (besides getting any medical treatment you need) is to gather evidence that can support your claim. There are numerous types of evidence you could look to gather, depending on the circumstances of how and where you fell down the stairs.

Potential options for evidence you could gather may include:

• Photographs of the accident scene and your injuries.
• Witness statements from work colleagues or anyone else who saw how you got your injury.
• Security camera footage showing the accident (if it’s available).
• A report on the accident that was made in your workplace’s accident report book.
• A medical report confirming the injuries you have received treatment for.

For more advice on gathering evidence for a claim after you picked up an injury from a fall down the stairs, contact our advisors today.

No Win No Fee Claims After You Fell Down The Stairs

You could potentially claim compensation for falling down the stairs with the help of No Win No Fee lawyers. If you fell down the stairs and were eligible to claim, they could offer you a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). This is a type of No Win No Fee arrangement.

When you hire a No Win No Fee lawyer for your compensation claim, they typically won’t charge upfront for their services. If your claim is successful, a legally capped success fee will be taken from your award. Should your claim fail, you usually won’t have to pay for your lawyer’s services.

Our advisors can discuss what happens when you fell down the stairs and what steps you can take to claim compensation. To get in touch:

• Call 0800 073 8804.
• Contact us
• Use our online chat.

To learn more about claiming after you fell down the stairs at work, please contact our team who provide 24/7 free legal advice at any time that suits you.