These claims are subject to the Civil Liability Act 2003 and Personal Injuries Proceedings Act 2002.
Owners and occupiers of commercial and private premises owe a duty to take reasonable care for the safety of persons who enter onto their property.
To recover damages, the general principles apply and you must prove:
You are not entitled to compensation merely because you suffered injury.
The owner or occupier is required to take reasonable care. What is reasonable depends on all the circumstances.
Public area claims usually fall into one of two categories namely defective design or construction on the one hand or inadequate surveillance or maintenance on the other.
Standards are imposed by local authorities and sometimes, by government regulation as to construction and also, in some cases, the operation of public areas. Steps for example may be required to conform to certain minimum dimensions and contain certain minimum safety features (eg handrails). If an injury is caused as a result of a design or construction not conforming with those minimum standards then you will be entitled to damages to the extent of the injury.
In the case of walking surfaces, minimum safe coefficients of friction may apply. If a slip occurs as a result of the surface not meeting that standard then damages to the extent of injury will be payable.
In each of the above cases it is necessary to prove the failure to conform to appropriate standards by the expert evidence of a safety engineer who would usually inspect the premises, prepare a detailed report and appear in court if necessary to be cross examined as to his or her conclusions.
The duty owed by owners and occupiers of premises extends to taking reasonable care to keep their premises safe.
In the case of supermarkets for example, there is a duty to design and implement a reasonable regime for the detection and removal of food spillages that may cause an injury. It is not the law that these food spillages must be detected and cleaned immediately. There simply must be surveillance and if necessary, cleaning up at a reasonably adequate frequency.
As to what frequency is reasonable for any particular location will vary according to such things as the number of customers in the premises at the time; the nature of the premises; the likelihood of any spillages occurring; and the nature of the goods being sold on the premises.
The frequency of surveillance of a food court would need to be far greater than that which would be reasonable in the clothing section of a department store.
In food spillage cases it is generally necessary to be able to identify the nature of the substance on the floor on which you slip and for approximately how long it had been there before the slip occurred.
Where the slip occurs because of defective maintenance eg water dripping across an aisle from the back of a supermarket freezer, your case is far easier to prove.