A slip and fall can happen anywhere: a spilled drink in a supermarket aisle, an uneven step, a wet car park, a runaway trolley. Some falls are minor. Others cause ankle fractures, ligament tears to the knee, and neck, back and spinal injuries that put you off work for weeks or months.
If you have recently been injured in a fall in a public place (or even a private one), you are probably dealing with an array of inconveniences beyond the pain and the medical bills. Taking the right steps early protects both your recovery and any claim you may later decide to make.
A few steps to take after a slip and fall accident
Whether it was in a supermarket, shopping centre, car park, recreational centre, swimming pool, or any other public space (or even private space – like your friend’s house, or a visited office), falling and injuring yourself usually puts you in a serious predicament, especially if it wasn’t your fault.
After a traumatic experience, it is easy to feel lost. So here is the step-by-step guide on what to do if you’ve suffered a personal injury as a result of a slip and fall.
Step #1: Seek medical help
A fall that seems minor at the time can cause broken bones, concussions and soft tissue injuries that only reveal themselves in the days that follow.
Before you do anything else, seek medical attention immediately. Hopefully someone witnessed your fall and can assist you by calling an ambulance or taking you to a hospital. Even if you think you might recover from the accident quickly, you should take advice from a medical professional and not leave things to chance.
If you decide to pursue a legal claim about the accident in future, not going to a doctor immediately can cause a problem trying to prove when and how the injury occurred. Be sure to tell the doctor exactly how you fell over so that it is recorded in the doctor’s notes to be used as evidence later.
Step #2: Report the incident
After you seek medical attention to treat the injuries due to the slip and fall, it’s important that you also report the problem to the negligent party right away.
Reporting the accident as soon as possible not only helps ensure that the management of the establishment that you slipped and fell in is aware of your injury (so they can take measures to prevent it from happening to other people), but it also allows you to establish a degree of correspondence needed to ease your troubles.
A written incident report completed by the venue where you hurt yourself often becomes an important piece of evidence in a claim for personal injury later on.
Step #3: Collect evidence
If you think that someone else is at fault for your injury, one of the first things to do after getting medical attention, and reporting the incident, is collecting your own evidence. You should collect as much evidence as possible. Perhaps a friend or family member was with you who can help by taking photos and writing a statement confirming the circumstances that caused you to fall.
Additional evidence in the form of medical documentation, like X-rays, scans and the doctor’s findings, also helps support your narrative if there are questions later about who was responsible for what happened to you.
Related: Print our post-accident evidence check-list.
Step #4: Get legal advice about a claim
Once you have a pile of medical bills, have lost time from work, and are getting tired of relying on family and friends to drive you to your appointments, it might be time to consider legal advice.
Talking to a lawyer is usually free for an initial case evaluation to determine if your accident and injury was truly the cause of someone or something else. If so, a claim for damages can be issued to the public liability insurer to recover your expenses and an additional sum for your pain and suffering, and future expenses yet to be incurred. Most claims are able to be run on a no win no fee basis, so you have nothing to lose. That said, not every fall leads to a valid claim, so it helps to understand why some slip and fall claims fail.
It is worth noting that most personal injury claims don’t end up in a court room, but your lawyer will prepare your case for all scenarios. By engaging a compensation lawyer, you’ll be able to focus on your recovery and not need to worry about navigating the tricky Personal Injuries Proceedings Act 2002 (Qld) which governs your claim.
Two things are worth knowing before you wait too long. First, strict time limits apply to public liability claims in Queensland: as a general guide, an initial notice of claim is required within nine months of the incident or one month of first consulting a lawyer, whichever is earlier, and court proceedings generally must start within three years. Second, if you fell in a supermarket or shopping centre, the venue’s cleaning and inspection system will be central to liability. Our guide to the “20-minute warning” explains why.
Protect your recovery and your claim
Dealing with the consequences of a slip and fall is a problem that must be handled correctly, and efficiently, to ensure that you don’t end up suffering more in the future. With the steps outlined above, you should be able to protect yourself and your case, should you be one of the unlucky ones who has been injured in an accident.
Roche Legal’s compensation law team includes some of the best personal injury lawyers in Brisbane that can help you seek your maximum compensation entitlement in the event of a slip and fall. If you’re currently considering your legal options, contact us today for a free initial consultation.