Petra Heath

The woman, Ms J, worked in the café at a well known supermarket.  Part of her duties included getting food out of the main freezer. On the occasion of the injury, Ms J was putting frozen food from the freezer onto a trolley.  A colleague came into the freezer and she turned to say hello.  As he left, Ms J went to put the food on the trolley and slipped on ice and fell to the floor.

Slip in freezer leads to arm and back injury

Ms J felt immediate pain in her back and right elbow and she had grazed her knee.  She reported the accident to HR and attended A & E at Bassetlaw District General Hospital.  X-rays showed that she fractured her right arm which needed a full cast.

A few weeks later, Ms J had an MRI scan on her arm, which revealed that she had not in fact fractured her arm, but was likely to be suffering from bursitis, which she did not have before the accident.  She was also suffering from back pain after the accident and couldn’t return to work to do her normal job as she was unable to lift or handle the produce safely.  She had to arrange a job that entailed light duties with her employer.

Freezer had caused previous issues

Feeling that the accident was not her fault, and was caused by her employer’s failure to maintain the freezer area properly, Ms J contacted Graysons to see if she could claim compensation, and Petra took up her case.  Ms J told Petra that she was wearing company issued trainers at the time of the accident and that there had been a problem with build up of ice on the floor in the freezers for some time and, at the time of her accident, it felt ‘worse than an ice rink’.  She was aware that other people had slipped too.  Plastic doors had previously been fitted next to the main freezer doors and a deep clean had been carried out, presumably to try to address the problem, but without success.  Ms J was also aware that complaints had been made and the issue had been raised by a health and safety representative at a meeting, but nothing was done.  The supermarket has rectified the situation since Ms J’s accident.

Employer fails to maintain safe workplace

Petra contacted the supermarket, which admitted liability for the accident, and agreed a settlement of £23,869.  Petra says “All employers have a duty to ensure that workplaces are safe for their employees, and if they don’t, they may be in breach of that duty and liable for any accidents that occur as a result.”

You can find out more about claiming compensation for accidents that occur at work on our web pages.  Contact one of our experts now to arrange a free of charge meeting in which you can discuss your case and we can advise on the likely success.