Slipped and Fell On Ice at Work

I slipped and fell on ice at work and fractured my pelvis, and believe my employer is to blame. A spillage in an industrial freezer was not cleaned up, and I slipped and fell on the ice that had formed. My employer just told staff to take extra care.

Question:

I slipped and fell on ice at work and fractured my pelvis, and believe my employer is to blame. A spillage in an industrial freezer was not cleaned up, and I slipped and fell on the ice that had formed. My employer just told staff to take extra care.

Answer:

If you slipped and fell on ice at work, you may be entitled to make a claim for slip injury compensation against your employer´s liability insurance policy provided that you can establish and prove that your employer had been negligent with regard to your personal safety.

It is an employer’s legal responsibility to ensure that the workplace is safe, and that health and safety risks are kept to the minimum possible level. If action can be taken by an employer to reduce the chance of an accident at work happening and it is practical to do so, then an employer is legally required to eliminate hazard or reduce the risk. A claim for slipping on ice at work can be more complicated however, as claimants will need to prove that the hazard which caused the slip at work could, and should, have been removed by an employer or his staff and done so quickly.

An employer must make routine inspections of the workplace to identify potential accident risks; however this is not a daily requirement. If the freezer was inspected and no hazard was present, it may not be reasonable to expect that your employer could take action in time to prevent an accident. A slipped and fell on ice at work claim may be possible due to poor health and safety practices at work if it can be shown that your employer did not take action to address the problem in a reasonable time frame.

When a hazard is identified which represents a serious slip hazard, an employer is duty bound to correct the problem and to do so in a reasonable time frame. Your eligibility to claim for having slipped and fell on ice at work may depend on how long the hazard was present and when your employer was made aware of the problem. If staff were required to enter the freezer regularly, then the hazard should have been addressed immediately. Failure to do this would place staff at an unnecessary risk of slipping on ice at work and sustaining an injury. Were you warned of the danger but still required to use the freezer, your employer could have been placing you at an unnecessary risk of injury, and this could be classed as employer negligence.

It is strongly recommended that you speak with a personal injury solicitor to determine whether you are eligible to make a slipped and fell on ice at work claim. You will also be advised of what you should do next if you decide to pursue a claim for a slip on ice at work.