Can I claim if I slipped and fell in a shop?

Yes, you can claim if you slipped and fell in a shop, but only if you can prove that the shop was negligent. A shop is not automatically liable because a customer fell on its floor. It is liable if it failed to take the reasonable steps a careful shopkeeper would have taken against a foreseeable hazard: a spill left unattended, a wet floor with no warning sign, a loose mat, or no reasonable system for inspecting and cleaning the floors. You have three years from the date of the fall to bring the claim under the Prescription Act 68 of 1969, and only six months to give written notice if the premises belong to an organ of state.

The legal principle is straightforward. Whoever controls premises open to the public owes the people who enter a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent foreseeable harm. What steps are reasonable depends on the place. A supermarket with a fresh produce section and thousands of customers a day is expected to have a regular inspection and cleaning routine, and to react quickly to spills. A small dry-goods store is expected to do less. The question a court asks is what this shop, on this day, should reasonably have done, and whether it did it.

What you have to prove

A slip and fall claim has four parts, and you carry the burden on all of them.

1. A hazard existed. Liquid on the floor, a grape underfoot, a lifted tile, a freshly mopped surface with no sign.
2. The shop knew or should have known. Either a staff member saw it, or it had been there long enough that a reasonable inspection routine would have found it. A spill that happened seconds before you stepped on it is very hard to pin on the shop.
3. The shop failed to take reasonable steps. No sign, no cordon, no cleaning, no inspection routine, or a routine that existed on paper but was not followed.
4. That failure caused your injury. You fell because of the hazard, not because of your own footwear, your phone, or a medical event.

If your own carelessness played a part, for example because you were running or looking at your phone, the Apportionment of Damages Act 34 of 1956 reduces your damages in proportion. It does not bar the claim.

The heads of damage are the same as in any injury claim: past and future medical expenses, past and future loss of earnings, and general damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenities. What can I claim for in a personal injury case? explains each one.

How the claim works step by step

1. Report the fall to the manager before you leave, and insist that an incident report is completed. Ask for a copy or, at minimum, the report number and the name of the person who completed it.
2. Get medical attention the same day, even if you feel fine. A record made on the day links the injury to the fall.
3. Send a written request for evidence within days. Ask the shop to preserve and provide the incident report, the CCTV footage of the area for the hour before and after the fall, the cleaning and inspection log for that day, and the names of the staff on duty. CCTV systems commonly overwrite footage within days or weeks, so a written preservation request, dated, is essential. If the shop later cannot produce footage it was asked to keep, that counts against it.
4. Send a letter of demand. Most retailers have public liability insurance, and the letter goes to the insurer. Set out what happened, why the shop was negligent and what you claim.
5. Negotiate. Insurers often deny liability at first. Your evidence decides whether that position holds.
6. Issue summons if needed, before the three-year deadline, in the Small Claims Court if the amount fits, otherwise in the Magistrates' Court or High Court.

A worked example

Pieter is a 58 year old bookkeeper. On a Saturday morning he slips on spilled yoghurt in the dairy aisle of a large supermarket and fractures his wrist. There is no warning sign. A customer tells him she reported the spill to a packer "a while ago". Pieter reports the fall to the manager, who fills in an incident report and calls a first aider. He goes to casualty that afternoon.

The figures are illustrative only, made up to show how the claim is built. They are not a prediction of what any claim would pay.

• Past medical expenses: casualty, x-rays, a cast, follow-up visits and physiotherapy, R16 400, partly paid by his medical aid.
• Past loss of earnings: he is self-employed and cannot type for six weeks. His invoices for the same period in the previous two years show a drop of about R21 000.
• General damages: an amount for the pain of the fracture and the weeks of restricted use of his dominant hand, assessed against earlier awards for similar injuries.

On the Monday Pieter emails the store asking it to preserve the CCTV for the dairy aisle between 09:00 and 11:00 and to send him the incident report and the cleaning log. The footage shows the spill on the floor for twenty-two minutes, with a packer walking past it twice. The cleaning log shows no inspection of that aisle for over an hour, against the store's own policy of half-hourly checks. The insurer's first letter denies liability and blames Pieter's shoes. Faced with the footage and the log, it settles.

Had Pieter waited three weeks to ask for the footage, it would probably have been overwritten, and the case would have come down to his word against the store's.

What to do this week

• If you have not reported the fall, do so now in writing and ask for the incident report.
• See a doctor and ask for a written record of the injury and its cause.
• Send the preservation request for CCTV, the incident report and the cleaning log today. Email is fine. Keep the sent copy.
• Photograph your injuries and, if you can go back, the area where you fell.
• Write down what happened, what you saw on the floor, what staff said, and the names of any witnesses.
• Keep every receipt, sick note and payslip in one folder, and diarise your three-year deadline.

Evidence to gather

• the shop's incident report, or proof that you asked for one
• CCTV footage, or proof that you asked for it to be preserved and when
• the cleaning and inspection log for the day
• photographs of the hazard, the area, your footwear and your injuries
• names and contact details of witnesses, including the staff who attended to you
• medical records from the day of the fall onwards
• proof of income and every receipt
• your own written account, dated

Realistic timeline

• Preservation request and response: days to a few weeks.
• Medical recovery: weeks to months. The claim cannot be valued until the outcome is known.
• Letter of demand and insurer response: one to three months.
• Negotiation: three to twelve months.
• Small Claims Court: a few months from summons to hearing.
• Magistrates' or High Court: a year or more, although most claims settle beforehand.

Common mistakes and what they cost

• Leaving without reporting. Without an incident report the shop will say it has no record of any fall.
• Waiting to ask for CCTV. Overwritten footage is the single most common reason slip and fall claims fail.
• Saying "I'm fine" to the manager. It will be written in the incident report and quoted back to you.
• Not seeing a doctor on the day. A gap invites the argument that something else caused the injury.
• Signing anything the shop offers. A voucher or a small payment in return for a signature can end the claim.
• Assuming the shop is liable because you fell. You must prove negligence.
• Missing the six-month notice for an organ of state. A fall in a municipal building, a state hospital or a government office needs written notice within six months.

Your rights and the shop's rights

You have the right to: have your fall recorded; ask the shop to preserve evidence; claim your proven losses if the shop was negligent; and go to court if the insurer refuses a fair settlement. The Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 also requires that goods and premises be reasonably safe and prohibits a supplier from excluding liability for harm caused by its gross negligence, so a disclaimer at the entrance does not end the matter.

The shop has the right to: deny negligence and require you to prove it; show that it had a reasonable inspection system and followed it; argue that the hazard had only just appeared; argue that you were partly or wholly to blame; and dispute the amount claimed.

If you cannot afford an attorney

For a modest injury, the Small Claims Court is a real option. It hears claims up to its monetary limit, without attorneys, where the claimant is a natural person, and a company can be the defendant. Check whether your claim fits with our small claims court calculator, see court fees for what a summons costs elsewhere, and confirm your deadline with the prescription checker.

For a serious injury, an attorney may take the matter on a contingency fee agreement under the Contingency Fees Act 66 of 1997. The agreement must be in writing, and the success fee is capped at double the normal fee or 25% of the award, whichever is lower, excluding disbursements. Read How does no win no fee work in South Africa? before you sign. Legal Aid South Africa can be reached on 0800 110 110 and applies a means test. What does claims and compensation cost? explains the usual fee models.

Frequently asked questions

People often ask whether a "wet floor" sign ends the claim. It does not on its own. A sign is one reasonable step, but a sign left permanently in a corner, or a sign that was not visible from where you approached, may not be enough. People ask whether they can claim if they fell in the car park or at the entrance. Yes, if the shop or the landlord controlled that area and was negligent about it, and the letter of demand should go to whoever controls it. People also ask whether the shop is liable if another customer caused the spill. The shop is not liable for the spill happening. It is liable for leaving it there when a reasonable system would have found and cleaned it.