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Slips, trips and falls on the same level are the largest single cause of reported workplace injury. HSE records that they accounted for 30% of non-fatal injuries to employees reported by employers under RIDDOR in 2024/25.
They are also the category where the gap between what a business believes it does and what it can prove it did tends to show. Slip and trip claims are rarely decided on the facts of the accident alone. What usually decides them is whether there is a risk assessment, a cleaning record and a training record to produce.
This page sets out what the law requires, what you must record and report, and what happens when a claim is made.
The duties that apply
Three sources matter, and they do different things.
The general duty. Every employer must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all employees. That includes safe plant and safe systems of work, and the information, instruction, training and supervision necessary to achieve it. It comes from section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
Floors and traffic routes. The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 deal with this specifically, and the structure of regulation 12 is worth understanding because the two limbs are not qualified in the same way.
Regulation 12(1) requires every floor and the surface of every traffic route to be of a construction suitable for the purpose for which it is used. That is an unqualified duty. Regulation 12(2) spells out what that construction duty includes: the floor or surface must have no hole or slope, and must not be uneven or slippery, so as to expose any person to a risk to health or safety, and floors must have effective drainage where necessary. Regulation 12(4) then qualifies that, so a hole is left out of account where adequate measures prevent anyone falling, and a handrail is taken into account on a slope.
Regulation 12(3) is the limb most slip and trip cases turn on: so far as is reasonably practicable, every floor and traffic route surface must be kept free from obstructions and from any article or substance which may cause a person to slip, trip or fall. Unlike regulation 12(1), that duty is qualified by reasonable practicability, which is where the argument usually is.
Regulation 12(5) requires suitable and sufficient handrails, and guards if appropriate, on all traffic routes which are staircases, except where a handrail cannot be provided without obstructing the route.
Risk assessment. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require every employer to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to employees at work, and to the health and safety of people not in their employment arising from the conduct of the undertaking. Regulation 3 also requires review where there is reason to suspect the assessment is no longer valid, or where there has been a significant change.
If you employ five or more employees, regulation 3(6) requires you to record the significant findings of the assessment and any group of employees identified as being especially at risk. That is the position as at September 2026. An unrecorded assessment is, in evidential terms, close to no assessment at all.
What a defensible slips and trips regime looks like
None of this is exotic. What distinguishes a business that defends a claim from one that does not is usually whether these things were documented and followed.
A slips and trips risk assessment covering each area and task, reviewed after any change of layout, flooring, process or cleaning contractor.
Flooring suitable for the environment, with attention to the areas where surfaces change, entrances in wet weather, and any process that puts water, oil or product on the floor.
A spillage procedure that names who deals with a spill, how it is signed, and how long the signage stays out. Signage put out late or left out permanently both cause problems.
Cleaning records showing what was cleaned, when, by whom and using what method, including contractor records where cleaning is outsourced.
Housekeeping standards for cables, deliveries, stock and waste in walkways.
Lighting checks for work areas, stairwells, corridors and external routes.
Handrails and stair condition checked and recorded.
Footwear where the risk assessment calls for it, with evidence that it was provided and that its use was supervised.
Winter arrangements for external routes and car parks, with a record of what was gritted and when.
Training and induction records, including for agency and temporary staff.
Contractor control, since engaging a competent contractor does not by itself discharge your duty.
What you must record and report after an accident
These two are different obligations and they are routinely confused. Getting them the wrong way round is one of the more common compliance failures we see.
Record. Where an employee is incapacitated for routine work for more than three consecutive days, excluding the day of the accident, the incident must be recorded. The record must be kept for at least three years.
Report. Where an employee is incapacitated for routine work for more than seven consecutive days, excluding the day of the accident, the incident must be reported to the enforcing authority as soon as practicable and in any event within 15 days of the accident.
Report without delay where the accident results in a specified injury to a worker, where a person not at work is taken from the site of the accident to hospital for treatment, or where a death or a dangerous occurrence has happened. In those cases the fuller report must be sent within 10 days of the incident.
Specified injuries are:
a fracture other than to fingers, thumbs or toes, diagnosed by a registered medical practitioner
an amputation
an injury likely to lead to permanent loss of, or reduction in, sight
a crush injury to the head or torso causing damage to the brain or to internal organs in the chest or abdomen
a serious burn covering more than 10% of the body’s total surface area, or causing significant damage to the eyes, respiratory system or other vital organs
scalping requiring hospital treatment
loss of consciousness caused by head injury or asphyxia
an injury from working in an enclosed space leading to hypothermia or heat-induced illness, or requiring resuscitation or admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours
A slip that results in a wrist or hip fracture diagnosed by a doctor therefore falls into the report-without-delay category. The current requirements are set out by HSE.
Alongside the statutory duties, preserve the evidence. Photograph the area before it is cleaned or repaired, secure the CCTV before it is overwritten, take the cleaning and inspection records for the relevant period out of the routine retention cycle, and take witness accounts while recollections are fresh. Notify your insurer promptly, because most employers’ liability policies require it and late notification can prejudice cover.
What happens when a claim is made
A claim by an injured employee is brought in negligence, for breach of the duty of care you owe as an employer. It is worth being clear about why, because the position changed.
Section 47 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 has always provided that nothing in that Part confers a right of action in civil proceedings for failure to comply with the duties in sections 2 to 7. Since the amendments made by section 69 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, breach of a duty imposed by health and safety regulations is also not actionable, except to the extent that regulations under section 47 provide. Those amendments apply to breaches of duty occurring on or after 1 October 2013.
The practical effect is not that the regulations stopped mattering. It is that they are now the measure of what a reasonable employer should have done, and evidence of the standard of care, rather than a freestanding cause of action. A breach of regulation 12(3) with no cleaning record behind it remains the most difficult kind of case to defend.
Your insurer conducts the defence. Employers’ liability insurance is compulsory under the Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969, and the policy will normally give the insurer conduct of the claim and appoint the solicitors who defend it. Our role for employers is on the duty, compliance and employment side rather than the conduct of the defence, and we will say so plainly rather than duplicating what your insurer is already obliged to do.
There is no specific statutory protection against dismissal or detriment for bringing a personal injury claim. An employee dismissed for doing so would usually have to bring an ordinary unfair dismissal claim, which as at September 2026 requires two years’ continuous service. Separate day-one protections can apply where the employee also raised a health and safety concern or made a protected disclosure. How the business responds to an injured employee has employment consequences of its own, which is where we can help.
HSE enforcement, separately from any claim
A claim and an HSE investigation are different processes with different consequences, and one does not decide the other.
An improvement notice requires a contravention, or the matters occasioning it, to be remedied within a period stated in the notice. A prohibition notice is served where an inspector is of the opinion that an activity involves or will involve a risk of serious personal injury, and directs that the activity is not carried on unless the matters are remedied. A prohibition notice can take effect immediately. Both come from sections 21 and 22 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, and both can be appealed to an employment tribunal under section 24. Appealing an improvement notice suspends it; appealing a prohibition notice does not, unless the tribunal directs it.
Where an inspector finds a material breach, meaning something serious enough that they need to write to the business requiring action, HSE recovers its costs under Fee for Intervention. HSE’s published rate is £188 an hour, current as at September 2026, for the time it takes HSE to identify what is wrong and help put it right. Where an inspector simply gives advice, verbal or written, there is no fee. The rate is reviewed annually, so check the current figure with HSE.
Health and safety offences by organisations are sentenced under a Sentencing Council definitive guideline in force since 1 February 2016, which applies to organisations sentenced on or after that date regardless of when the offence was committed. The court assesses culpability and the seriousness of the harm risked, places the organisation in a size band by turnover, and then steps back to check that the fine is proportionate.
How we help employers
Our work for employers on this sits in three places.
Before anything happens. Reviewing risk assessments, safe systems of work, cleaning and contractor arrangements, and the documentation that has to stand up later. Advising on health and safety duties and on the policies and training records that evidence them.
After an accident. Advising on what must be recorded and reported and by when, on preserving evidence, and on the employment issues that follow, including sick pay, return to work, adjustments and any disciplinary questions arising from the incident. Our team of HR lawyers deals with those.
When something goes wrong with a third party. Disputes with a cleaning or maintenance contractor, or with an insurer over cover, are dealt with by our commercial litigation team, including insurance claim disputes where an insurer refuses or reduces a claim.
Workplace slips and trips: frequently asked questions
Do we have to write our risk assessment down?
If you employ five or more employees, you must record the significant findings and any group of employees identified as being especially at risk. Below that threshold the duty to assess still applies, and recording it is the only practical way to evidence that you did.
Is an over-three-day injury reportable to HSE?
No, and the two are easy to confuse. An injury keeping someone off routine work for more than three days must be recorded. The reporting trigger is more than seven days, and the report must be sent within 15 days of the accident.
We put out a wet floor sign. Is that enough?
Not by itself. For visitors, the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 provides that a warning does not absolve the occupier unless in all the circumstances it was enough to enable the visitor to be reasonably safe. For employees, the question is whether the floor was kept free from the substance so far as was reasonably practicable. Signage is one control among several, not a substitute for the others.
Our cleaning is outsourced. Does that transfer the risk?
Not on its own. You remain responsible for the safety of your premises and systems, and you need evidence that the contractor was competent, properly instructed and actually did what was required. Contractor records should be obtainable by you, not just by them.
Does it help us that the employee was careless?
It can reduce an award where responsibility is shared, but it rarely defeats a claim on its own, and it is a weak position compared with being able to produce a current risk assessment and a completed cleaning record.
Where do agency workers stand?
Duties are owed to agency and temporary workers as well as to direct employees, and which party is responsible depends on who controlled the work and the premises. Induction and training records for temporary staff are frequently the weak point.
Should we tell our insurer even if no claim has been made?
Almost always yes. Most policies require notification of circumstances that might give rise to a claim, and late notification can prejudice cover. Check the notification clause in your policy and follow it.
Talk to us about workplace slips and trips
If you want your risk assessments and records reviewed before they are tested, or you are dealing with an accident and need to know what to record, report and preserve, we can help.
Call 01689 887887 or request a callback to speak to our employment and health and safety team.