Business
Safety first Preventing and dealing with accidents in your store, and therefore avoiding injury claims, is largely down to commonsense, but Russell Jones of Fidler & Pepper Solicitors provides some useful pointers
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’m often asked to make claims for people who are injured, so as a poacher turned gamekeeper I would hope to give you some insight into the process of injury claims and what you can do to stop claims being made by people who are on your premises, or what to do if you find yourself on the receiving end of a claim. Often the UK has been described as being gripped by a compensation culture, and there is a fear that no matter what you do, people will claim. In fact the statistics don’t bear this out, although it’s fair to say that ‘Joe Public’ now knows more about what he can do and when he can do it than ever before. A lot of what comes next is simple commonsense, and in fact most of the law comes from this ‘commonsense’, having originally been established by courts hearing these types of cases over the last few centuries, although it has been added to at various times by statute to give some guidance to owners and users alike.
What duty do you owe your customers?
Well, you must keep them safe while they are in your premises. That might seem to be a given, but judging by some of the accident claims I have been involved in, you wouldn’t think so. It doesn’t mean you have to give them a personal bodyguard, but equally you don’t want to set mantraps at every corner. In our offices we often ask our staff to give their honest opinion on things, as sometimes familiarity breeds contempt and also allows dangerous practices to go unreported. Can you really afford to turn a blind eye to things you know are wrong, on the basis that an accident hasn’t happened yet and it’s been like that for the last five years so? Well, my advice would be to give your premises an honest health and safety appraisal. • Do those cluttered aisles need tidying up? • Have I left anything on the floor that someone could trip over? • Does that glass shelf really need to be at eye level? • What happens when it’s wet outside? • Does my beautiful marble floor have to be covered with a slide-proof rug or will a ‘wet floor’ sign save me from customers slipping over? • Is the torn and tattered carpet/lino at the door really helping my shop’s image? Let alone allowing anyone trying to do business with me the opportunity to enter without falling head long into the shop?
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