How To Claim For A Slip And Fall In A Public Lavatory
By Marlon Cooke. Last Updated 1st March 2023. Slips, trips, and falls can be painful and even embarrassing accidents, having slipped in a public lavatory might be more embarrassing for claimants than other types of slip, trip, and fall injuries. Toilet floors are often wet with both water and other substances. As such, bathroom slip and fall accidents may happen more times than you might think. This guide will show you what to do if you slip in the bathroom if you want to see if you could be owed compensation for your injury.
Can I Claim If I Slipped In The Toilet?
In this article, we will look at how you may be able to claim personal injury compensation if you slipped in a public lavatory due to another party’s negligence. Claimants might even be able to make compensation claims for having slipped in the toilet on a wet floor even when there are no witnesses. However, without any evidence at all, it becomes very unlikely that you’ll be able to make a successful No Win No Fee claim.
Get in touch with us today. We are here to answer any questions you may have and to help you on the path toward claiming the compensation you deserve.
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As this guide shows, bathroom slip injuries can severely impact your quality of life. Whether you’ve suffered a toilet bowl break injury or a slip and fall due to no warning signs being present, this guide could help. Please read on to learn what to do if you slip in the bathroom.
Select A Section
- Can I Make A Slip On A Wet Floor Compensation Claim?
- Claim For Slipping On A Wet Floor In A Lavatory At Work
- What Reasonable Steps Should Have Been Taken To Prevent Accidents?
- How To Make A Slipped In A Public Lavatory Accident Claim
- Toilet Injuries – Settlement Examples For Bathroom Accidents
- No Win No Fee Slipped In A Public Lavatory Accident Claims
- How Legal Expert Can Help
- Useful Links
Can I Make A Slip On A Wet Floor Compensation Claim?
Claimants who have slipped on a wet floor in a toilet cannot make an accident claim simply because they have had a fall. The claimant and their solicitor will need to establish that there was a duty of care present, and whether it was violated by those in charge of the site the injury took place. This could be the owner or operator of a restaurant, bar or other public space, or it could be a workplace. It needs to be shown that someone is at fault in some way and that the party must have been reasonably able to rectify the situation, preventing any accidents or injuries from occurring.
The ‘reasonable’ definition can be quite flexible and it can depend upon factors such as how busy the toilet is. The Occupiers Liability Act 1957 can usually be applied. The Act imposes a duty of care to take all reasonable steps on the toilet owners to ensure visitors are not injured while visiting a lavatory. Your solicitor will need to show that the responsible party failed to take the necessary or reasonable steps.
Therefore, making successful claims for bathroom slip and fall accidents rely on:
- The third party responsible having a duty of care.
- Their actions or inaction cause them to breach this duty.
- This breach of care leads to you suffering an injury.
Read on to learn more about bathroom slip injuries. If you prefer, you can contact us for free legal advice to see if you’re eligible to claim.
Claim For Slipping On A Wet Floor In A Lavatory At Work
As with any slipped on a wet floor at workplace injury, if you have slipped in a toilet at work you may be able to make a claim against your employer. The same legislation which protects people in public toilets can also be applied to workplace toilets. The first step claimants should take is to report the accident to the workplace and record it in their accident report book. Claimants should also photograph the toilet floor, clearly showing it was wet and/or unsafe.
Even if there are no witnesses, you or your solicitor can gather evidence such as cleaning logs to check when the toilet was last checked or cleaned. If the toilets are not cleaned often enough or had not been cleaned for a while, this may serve as evidence of negligence. Claimants who have suffered a slipped on a wet floor injury at work should contact a solicitor as early as possible.
You could claim directly for injuries caused by a broken toilet seat or by slippy public toilet flooring. However, one of our solicitors with experience handling similar claims could help you collect evidence and build a case.
What Reasonable Steps Should Have Been Taken To Prevent Accidents?
Reasonable steps which can expect to have been carried out include having an appropriate system of inspection and cleaning. If you have had a slip or fall and there was no wet floor sign, this could be indicative of the operator not having taken reasonable steps. Checks should be carried out at regular intervals to check the condition of the floor.
Many toilets do so on an hourly basis and there should be a check sheet in place to show inspection times as well as whether the inspection was carried out. Cleaning should be carried out and signs put in place when needed. If these are correctly filled in, it can sometimes make your claim more difficult, and their ability to defend against the claim easier.
As you can see, providing evidence is vital when claiming for bathroom slip and fall accidents. An important part of the claims process is showing that third-party negligence led to the bathroom slip injuries you’ve sustained.
How To Prove A Slipped In A Public Lavatory Accident Claim
Providing evidence is an important part of claiming for a toilet accident. Evidence can help prove that you were not responsible for your injuries and can also help to prove the severity of your injuries and how they’ve affected your life.
Some examples of evidence that will help support your slipped in a toilet accident claim:
- Photographs: If you suffered a toilet bowl break injury or a broken toilet seat injury, taking pictures of the accident site can help illustrate how the accident occurred. Pictures of your injuries can also be beneficial.
- Witness contact details: If you suffered a public toilet injury and slipped in front of others, taking their contact details means that their statements can be taken at a later date.
- Medical records: Your medical records can illustrate the severity of your injuries and can also detail the treatment you will need going forward.
Should you choose to work with a solicitor, they can help you with gathering evidence for your claim. To learn more or to find out if you could be eligible to work with one of our solicitors, contact our team today.
Toilet Injuries – Settlement Examples For Bathroom Accidents
There are two types of compensation that you could receive for your injuries.
The first is general damages, which is compensation for your pain and suffering. While there are no set compensation figures in personal injury claims, injuries can be valued by using the compensation brackets in the Judicial College Guidelines.
We have provided a few settlement examples from this document to give you an idea of this type of compensation. The examples in our table are injuries that could be sustained from slipping on the wet floor of a toilet and are injuries and compensation figures compiled from previous court claims.
| Injury | Description | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Knee Injury | (a) Severe – (i) a fracture to the leg that extends into the knee, leading to constant and permanent pain and/or other disabilities | £69,730 to £96,210 |
| Wrist Injury | (b) injury that results in significant disability on a permanent basis, but some useful motion will remain | £24,500 to £39,170 |
| Hand Injury | (f) Severe finger fractures that could lead to partial amputations and lead to things like impaired grip and reduced function | Up to £36,740 |
| Leg Injury | (c) Less serious – (ii) a simple femur fracture with no joint damage | £9,110 to £14,080 |
| Elbow Injury | (c) Moderate/minor – many fractures to the elbow will fall under this bracket – can include other injuries like laceration | Up to £12,590 |
| Arm Injury | (c) Less severe – significant disabilities will have occurred, but a very good degree of recovery will have taken place | £19,200 to £39,170 |
| Neck Injury | (c) Minor – (iii) where a full recovery is made within one to two years | £4,350 to £7,890 |
| Back Injury | (c) Minor (i) – full recovery or almost full without surgery in about 2 to 5 years | £7,890 to £12,510 |
How this type of compensation could be paid to you, would depend on the evidence you could provide of the extent of your injuries or the extent of your suffering. The figures shown are not guaranteed.
The second type of compensation that you could seek is special damages, which is compensation for any injury related financial losses. For example, if your injuries had resulted in:
- Lost earnings
- Spending towards your treatment or care
- Requiring aids you needed to purchase
Then you could present evidence of these losses as part of your claim.
If you were injured in a fall in a toilet, you could reach out to one of our advisers for more information about how your injuries could be valued.
No Win No Fee Slipped In A Public Lavatory Accident Claims
No Win No Fee agreements are also known as Conditional Fee Agreements, or CFA’s. They are a special type of contract that will set out the relationship between the solicitor and client. It details what work the solicitor will carry out on the case, what the client may be expected to do and how the solicitor will be paid.
It should also set out that the client does not have to make any upfront or ongoing payments, and that if the claim is not successful, that the claimant would not have to pay solicitors fees. It will detail the fees the client will pay only if the case is successful. This will usually be a percentage of your compensation. This amount is legally capped and often referred to as a success fee.
How Legal Expert Can Help
The expert legal solicitors we work with at Legal Expert are based across the country and have years of experience in helping people to get the compensation they deserve. You can start your claim or find out more information on how we can help you by calling today on 0800 073 8804. Talk to us today to start your claims case.
Useful Links
- Accident At Work Claims: Find out more about making a successful accident at work claim as well as what you may be able to claim for in our guide.
- Reporting Accidents And Incidents In The Workplace: View the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidelines on how to report accidents in the workplace.
- Slipping On A Wet Floor Accident Claims: Find out more information about the process of making slip, trip and fall accident claims.
- Personal Injury Claims: Our general guide to the process.
- What Is a Litigation Friend?: Find out how someone else could pursue your claim for you.
- Cleaning Safety: Advice from the HSE regarding how to clean safely.
- Get advice on claiming for injuries caused by trapped fingers in a door. Learn more with our guide.
- Learn how to claim if you slipped on water in a supermarket and suffered an injury with our article.
- Our guide offers more information on claiming for finger amputation following an accident. Learn more about the personal injury claims process.
- Read our guide to petrol accident claims and learn more about claiming for an injury in a public place.
To learn more about claiming for bathroom slip and fall accidents, please contact us for free legal advice at a time that works for you.
