Why shops have a duty of care for their customers health and safety
Health and safety legislation in the UK states that the owners or operators of areas of public access are responsible for ensuring that the safety of anyone entering the area is paramount. This includes shops and retail outlets, and the duty of care that shops have towards their customers has been highlighted by a recent case where a young boy was injured whilst trying on trainers in a sportswear shop. The incident, although relatively minor, drew attention to the fact that even just a momentary lapse of concentration can lead very easily to injury.
The most common retail environment injuries are trips and slips, injuries to workers due to manual handling (often back injuries) and injuries sustained as a result of impact from falling objects. Although these kinds of injuries are often minor in comparison to other types of industrial injuries, there is still genuine distress and pain as a result.
The last thing that any customer expects when entering a shop is to be the victim of an injury caused by a lapse in the duty of care that the shop has to all its customers and staff. Something as simple as a wet floor that doesn t have any warning signs around it can result in a slip or fall which could cause a range of injuries. If the shop has failed to warn customers of the potential hazard, then it has failed in its duty of care.
Although these situations may seem trivial, bringing a compensation claim where real injury has been caused can help the shop s health and safety policy improve, and prevent further injuries in the future. In the case of the boy injured whilst trying on trainers, a member of staff simply opening a drawer behind the child whilst he was bent over resulted in the boy suffering a cut to his back. The staff member admitted that although he thought it safe to open the drawer, with hindsight the event shouldn t have happened and was the result of momentary carelessness . Because he was restocking in an area where customers were present, it was felt that it was the employee s responsibility and the responsibility of the company to avoid injury to customers when working. The result of this case has highlighted how easily a momentary lapse of concentration can lead to a member of the public being injured.
Specialist claims solicitors deal with cases such as this every day, and each one is designed not only to compensate innocent victims of avoidable accidents, but to help shops and companies improve their health and safety standards and maintain the highest possible duty of care to customers. A shop s reputation can easily be damaged if it is thought that they do not provide a safe environment for their customers, and this can ultimately affect their business. After all, nobody wants to go into a shop that may not be safe.
By pursuing a compensation claim for injury sustained in a retail outlet, a victim is highlighting inadequacies in the shop s policy towards its customers and can be a catalyst for positive changes. It could be something as simple as ensuring clear warnings are displayed when surfaces are wet, or how a shop displays its goods. Whatever the reason and no matter how trivial the incident may seem, it should be pursued to the fullest extent. Only then can shops and retailers be certain that they are providing a safe environment and that their duty of care to their customers is being fulfilled.
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