A high percentage of the compensation claims handled by Bartletts Solicitors against hotels on behalf of injured guests involve accidents in hotel bathrooms. Slips and falls in bathrooms can cause a variety of injuries, including fractured limbs, cuts, bruising and concussion from guests banging their heads.
Hotel owners must take every reasonable precaution to ensure that guests are not injured through no fault of their own during their stay, and can be held liable if they fail to fix defects and hazards in bathrooms at their properties.
Their responsibilities are the same that every owner of a commercial premises owes to their visitors under the terms of the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957, and hotel owners must pay particular attention to bathroom safety given the frequency that accidents occur in these locations.
Can I Sue a Hotel if I Slipped Over in the Bathroom?
Slipping accidents in hotel bathrooms are usually caused by insufficient safety features having been installed by the establishment’s owners. These safety precautions should be checked regularly by maintenance staff at hotels to make sure they are in a good state of repair.
Shower doors should be constructed from safety glass or hard plastic to minimise the risk of guests breaking them during use. Leaking water from defective taps, basins and other bathroom equipment can create unexpected slipping hazards, and again, a proper system of maintenance should prevent such situations from arising.
Compensation From UK Tour Operators for Accidents at Foreign Hotels
Other potential hazards in hotel bathrooms include defective electrical items such as hairdryers, with the potential to cause electric shocks and burns. Broken hot taps and faulty pipes can also cause burn injuries if the water that runs from them is scalding hot.
As British holidaymakers begin to flock to overseas hotels in the summer months, it important to note that those who have booked their stays as part of package deals are protected by the Package Travel Regulations 1992, legislation that imposes a duty on the UK tour operator through which a holiday was booked to make sure that the overseas accommodation they offer is reasonably safe for guests and adequately maintained.
Case Study: Guest Injured by Falling Shower Unit on Holiday
Mr T was injured while on a package holiday on the Costa del Sol, Spain. While having a shower one morning, Mr T was trying to adjust the temperature and position of the shower head, when the unit became detached from the wall, and fell onto him, causing him to fall backwards into the bath. Mr T banged his head on the ceramic surface, as well as straining his back in the fall.
His wife came to his assistance, and helped pull the unit off him. Mr T was dazed and in pain following the accident, and the hotel called a doctor to examine him. Though he was not seriously hurt, Mr T suffered bruising to his head, and a pulled muscle in his lower back. He spent the rest of the couple’s week long holiday in the hotel, suffering from headaches and lack of mobility due to his back injury.
Our Legal Advice
On his return to the UK, Mr T contacted Bartletts Solicitors to explore his legal options. We advised him that rather than taking action in Spain against the hotel he could make a claim under UK law against the tour operator with whom the couple had booked their trip.
Under the 1992 Package Travel, Package Holiday and Package Tour Regulations, they were responsible for health and safety at the overseas hotels which customers booked as part of a package deal through them. Maintenance had obviously been poor at the Spanish hotel in question, otherwise there was no way a shower unit could have fallen from the wall. The tour operator initially contested the claim, but eventually admitted liability for the accident, and Mr T received £2,600 in compensation for his injuries, and the loss of enjoyment of his holiday that resulted.
If an overseas trip was part of a package holiday booked with a UK tour operator then it will often be possible to make a compensation claim for a holiday accident under British law, as per the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tour Regulations 1992. To qualify any two of three elements must have been booked with the same UK holiday company:
A) Hotel / Accommodation
B) Flights / Travel
C) Car Hire / Airport Transfer / Excursions
Case Study: Compensation for Slipping in Hotel Bathroom
Mr A was staying at a hotel in the UK when he was involved in an accident for which he was later able to claim personal injury compensation. Mr A slipped in a hotel bathroom as he was going to take a shower. Water was leaking from a defective basin next to the shower, causing a pool of water to form and creating a clear slipping hazard.
Mr A wrenched his back and banged his knee heavily on the bathroom floor when he fell. He also slipped again as he was struggling to stand up causing further bruising to his knee. Mr A later received medical attention from a local doctor, and he left the hotel the following day, having made sure that the details of the incident were recorded in the hotel’s accident book.
Our Legal Advice
Mr A experienced constant dull pain in his back for the next few weeks, and had difficulty bending and standing up during that time. His knee was also inflamed and weak. Having seen his doctor, Mr A contacted Bartletts Solicitors to discuss his situation, and we later agreed to represent him on a no win no fee basis in a compensation claim against the hotel.
We wrote to them, arguing that our client had been injured primarily due to a lack of proper maintenance that resulted in his hotel bathroom being unsafe for guests at the time of the accident. The hotel had therefore failed to take the reasonable measures expected of it under UK law to minimise the risk of guests getting injured. We were able to obtain an admission of liability fairly quickly in this instance, and our client later received £3,500 in compensation.
Case Study: Child Burnt by Hot Water in Hotel Bathroom
Mr and Mrs S were staying at a hotel in the UK when one of their young children was injured while having a bath. The child put his hands under the running hot water tap and was immediately in agony. He was taken to hospital with second-degree burns, where his wounds were dressed, his hands were bandaged and he was discharged.
Mr and Mrs S complained to the hotel about the accident, and Mr S was able to examine the water boiler in their room which he found was set to the maximum temperature of 65 degrees centigrade. The boiler had recently been serviced, but had not been reset to its normal temperature of around 45 degrees centigrade. The family were offered a refund on their stay, but decided to leave the hotel and return home on the same day of the accident.
Our Legal Advice
Mr S decided to seek legal advice, as he felt his son’s accident and relatively serious burn injuries were wholly the responsibility of the hotel. We represented his son in a no win no fee claim against the hotel’s owners, arguing that our client’s injuries had been caused by a maintenance failure at the hotel at the time of the family’s stay. The water heater in their bathroom had recently been serviced by a maintenance worker who had failed to readjust the temperature controller to the correct, safe level after completing the work.
Water at 65 degrees centigrade is too hot for even brief human contact, and it was therefore reasonably foreseeable that Mr S’s son would burn himself while using the running bath. On admission of liability, our client received £3,500 in compensation for the accident at the hotel to be held in trust for him by the court until he reaches the legal age of 18.
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For specialist advice on your personal injury claim, call us now on Liverpool 0151 227 3391 or Chester 01244 645830 or Wrexham 01978 360056 or complete a Free Online Enquiry and we will soon be in touch.
