It is estimated that over half of the money spent by British shoppers on the high street is spent in supermarkets, while around three quarters of a million people are employed by the four industry giants, Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury and Morrisons. Given their economic dominance and the physical scale of supermarket stores, it is unsurprising that injuries and accidents involving both customers and staff are common.
Supermarkets must take all reasonable measures to protect the safety of both customers and staff, and to prevent accidents from occurring as far as possible. Where this duty of care is breached, and a visitor is injured due to negligence on the part of a supermarket or its staff, an injured person may bring a claim for compensation under the Occupiers Liability Act 1957. Though many people will be afraid of bringing a legal challenge against one of the supermarket giants, such claims are normally relatively straightforward. Where a supermarket has clearly breached its duty of care, and this breach has caused injury, claims will normally be settled out of court within a few months, and compensation will be paid out promptly by the supermarket’s public liability insurance.
The most common types of accident in supermarkets involve slips, trips and falls. Such accidents may occur anywhere on a supermarket’s premises, including in an aisle, at the checkout, or outside in the car park. Injuries from falls range from minor wrist sprains to dislocated or fractured hips, which will require a lengthy recovery period, especially if the injured person is elderly. Slips and falls are often caused by products such as milk, butter or fruit which have been spilled or discarded on floors. This type of accident is particularly common in supermarkets which serve hot, ready-to-eat food, often served in wrappers which customers discard on the floor.
Supermarkets must maintain a tight inspection and cleaning regime to ensure that such hazards are always eliminated within a reasonable time-frame.
Another regular cause of supermarket accidents are floor surfaces which have been recently cleaned, and are not cordoned off effectively to prevent visitors walking and slipping on them. Falls may also result from packaging materials or other containers left lying in aisles. Such accidents will be particularly serious if a person falls onto a sharp edge or hard surface, and strikes their head. Head injuries in supermarkets are also caused by objects falling from height. These objects may be large tins of produce falling from poorly stacked shelves, or signs falling from ceilings. It has also been known for customers to be crushed by stock crates on wheels, or injured due to defects in supermarket shopping trolleys such as protruding spokes. A significant percentage of supermarket accidents occur outside in the car park. These may be caused by uneven surfaces which have been poorly maintained, or by obstacles such as missing drain covers. In the winter snow and ice will pose a threat, and supermarkets must ensure that surfaces are adequately gritted to prevent visitors from slipping and falling on them.
Supermarket fall claims should be reported as soon as possible to customer services and details should be logged in the supermarket’s accident book, which they are obliged by law to maintain. Injured persons are advised to take photos of the hazard which caused the accident, where possible, and also to take names, addresses and telephone numbers of any witnesses.
