accident claim - advice please! help!

[mcvey123]

Hi there,
just checking what people think!

We run a basic cleaning firm where we clean people's houses. yesterday, when one of the cleaners went to do a house clean, (where the people supply the cleaning materials) the man who owns the house slipped on the floors. Now, firstly the floors were damp and drying and he was told to be careful. Secondly, it transpires that the floor cleaner supplied was polish not "pledge wooden floor cleaner" and so the floors were slippy. The cleaner went back and redid the floors as soon as we all realised what had happened.

do you think the customer has grounds for claiming as he suppplied the floor cleaner and was told to stay off the wet floors?

[buzby]

Id suggest it was contributory negligence on both sides. The householder may have supplied the products, but there would have been a duty of care that the cleaner should have realised the floor treatment was going to be problematic. Also against you is that despite this arrangement, the householder could argue that the polish was never meant to be used on the floor - just his grand piano - and had not realised the pledge wooden floor cleaner was empty. Hopefully, a common-sense solution will prevail. Why not offer (without liability) to do the house free for a month as a gesture of goodwill? If it looks like getting nasty, a solicitor is a must.

[mcvey123]

Thanks for the advice, you just don't know these days if people will take things further or not!

[buzby]

Agreed - but it's best to have a planned response ready than flutter around in a panic! <g>

[Conniff]

I hope it don't come to anything Mc and I think Buzby's idea is a great one and the cost would be negliable.
Just to bring to your attention. A few years ago a woman slipped on an commercial building floor that had been washed and there were signs around saying take care slippery floor, won her case for compensation as the judge said that putting those signs out was an admittance that the floor was dangerous.
You can't win can you and don't know what to do for the best.

[mcvey123]

crikey

[blitz]

Did he injure himself when he slipped?
For most claims regarding health + safety you need to have Negligence, Loss and a link between the too. Dependent on the amount of warning given to the client, the injury occurred and whether that injury prevented him from doing anything else would weigh heavily on any claim against you.

[Weird Al Yankovic]

Don't you have insurances in place for this type of event mcvey123?

One would imagine this kind of scenario being quite a common hazard for the work you do, ie slippery floors.

[blitz]

Slips, Trips and Falls the most common accident off the roads.

[Goldlady]

Problem these days is that many insurance companies will pay out when really they should fight the case. I have several clients who have been faced with increased premiums because staff have injured themselves (most of the time through their own negligence) but instead of investigating and fighting it the insurers just pay up and charge everyone who has public liability insurance.