Many hotels and guest houses include several areas of accommodation, from bedrooms to dining facilities to swimming pools. Hotel managers and staff owe a duty of care to lawful visitors to ensure each of these areas is kept safe and free of personal injury hazards. Unfortunately, however, all too often shortcuts are taken or safety procedures are missed to improve efficiency or lower costs.
Common Types of Workplace Accidents
At Graham Coffey & Co, we represent individuals who have suffered personal injury due to the negligence of property owners and hotel managers or careless actions of cleaning personnel and general hotel staff. We work to identify all liable parties and hold them accountable for accidents caused by.
- Tripping over poorly fitted carpet
- Slipping on an unmarked wet floor
- Falling from collapsing furniture
- Slipping in hotel changing rooms
- Food poisoning due to undercooked or contaminated food
- Burns from faulty electrical equipment
- Slipping in wet bathrooms
- Tripping over discarded laundry
- Falling down wet or unguarded staircases
Hotel owners are responsible for routinely carrying out reasonable inspections and risk assessments in every area of the hotel or guest house to limit the risk of injury. Too often these risk assessments are not performed, however, or when they are, no action is taken to remedy identified risks.
Common Failures
- Inadequate or lack of cleaning systems
- Poorly trained staff
- No warning signs for wet floors or other hazards
- Poor food storage
- Use of outdated electrical equipment
- Lack of non-slip mats in bathrooms
- Improperly cleaned bed linens and towels
What You Can Do
If you suffered an injury while staying at a hotel or guest house, always report the incident to the manager or staff as soon as possible, and insist upon signing the accident report book. If possible, take a photograph of what caused your accident. Also, take down the details of any witnesses to the incident. Finally, contact our Manchester solicitors for hotel and guest house injuries to discuss your options for pursuing compensation.
