Research by the Health and Safety Executive has shown that 71% of trips and slips are avoidable, and according to the National Safety Council, they account for 36% of all emergency department visits. Human factors play a significant role in the majority of these accidents, which predominantly result from a poor perception of risk. Often, there is a failure of staff to identify slip and trip risks accompanied by a breakdown in the reporting of spills, a significant proportion of which originate from customers dropping items then failing to report the incident. These outcomes leave businesses exposed to significant risk and liability.
With individual claim levels ranging from £12,900 for a modest ankle injury to up to £90,290 for a severe knee injury, this has led to personal injury specialists and claims management companies actively targeting a wide range of businesses in liability cases. Not only has corporate social responsibility placed an emphasis on improving customer and employee health and safety, but the increasingly litigious society in which we live has also driven the need for businesses to improve in this critical area of loss prevention, so as to avoid the high costs of personal injury cases.