Month: July 2023

Petrol stations owe customers a duty of care which they may breach if the latter are exposed to a foreseeable risk of injury and an accident occurs. There are a number of potential hazards at petrol stations, especially those operating 24/7 and offering a range of facilities. As with all businesses offering services to the general public, petrol station owners, occupiers and staff are responsible for the safety of their visitors as per the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957. Customers must be kept reasonably safe while visiting the premises, and all necessary measures must be taken to minimise the risk of accidents.

Typical examples of slippery surfaces at petrol stations include greasy areas in forecourts where oil or petrol has been spilled, and wet floors in bathroom facilities caused by recent cleaning or maintenance problems. Other internal floor surfaces may also be slippery if, for example, a customer spilled a product and it has not been cleaned up, or a recently cleaned floor has been left in a wet and slippery condition, in which case warning signs should have been positioned to warn and prevent customers from accessing the area.

Inadequate outdoor lighting at petrol stations is often a contributory factor in slip and trip accidents, and publicly accessible areas must be properly lit at all times to guard against this risk. Ice and snow in winter must be cleared from outdoor areas to prevent visitors from slipping over and injuring themselves, while measures should also be taken to prevent ice, snow and water from being trampled inside petrol stations. Petrol hoses on forecourts should recoil automatically after use and not be allowed to trail along the ground due to the risk of trips, falls and injuries.

Our firm has a team of personal injury lawyers with experience of successfully claiming compensation for accidents at petrol stations. If you have slipped and fallen over or been otherwise injured at a petrol station through no fault of your own, contact Bartletts for free legal advice that you can rely on:

https://www.bartlettslaw.co.uk/petrol-station-injury-claims/petrol-station-accident-case-studies.html

As with all commercial premises visited by members of the public, nightclubs and discos owe their customers a duty of care, and must take all reasonable measures to protect them from foreseeable injury risks while they are on the premises. The most common causes of accidents in nightclubs and discos include:

1) Spilled drinks in any area of a venue can create a slipping hazard for revellers, especially on dance floors and in bar areas and bathroom facilities. Inspections need to be routinely carried out by staff so that spillages are identified and cleared up as quickly as possible. Nightclub owners and organisers must make sure that a sufficient number of staff are on duty to monitor the behaviour of guests and maintain a reasonable level of safety.

2) Broken glasses and bottles are another regular cause of accidents in nightclubs and discos. Broken glass on dance floors, stairs and in other areas of a venue can cut people’s feet, hands or any other part of the body. Similarly to spilled drinks, an efficient system of monitoring and inspecting public areas of a venue, and clearing up broken glass as soon as it is identified will minimise the risk of injuries.

3) Tripping accidents at venues are also fairly common, and are often caused by damaged or uneven surfaces such as frayed carpeting, cracked tiles in bathrooms or damaged steps to stair. Clubs and discos are full of electrical cables linking up music equipment, lighting, screens and vending machines, and exposed trailing cables in public areas can easily cause revellers or venue staff to trip over and injure themselves.

4) Visitors to nightclubs and discos may also be injured when chairs, stools or tables collapse due to their defective state or poor assembly. Venue owners and organisers have a legal duty to provide safe furniture and furnishings which must be regularly inspected to monitor its condition and minimise the risk of injuries. A proper system of lighting is also important, particularly on stairs, in bathroom facilities, near entrances and exits, and on crowded dance floors. Inadequate lighting reduces the ability of visitors to move around a venue safely, and can result in trips, falls and potentially serious injuries.

If you have suffered an injury as a result of an accident in a nightclub that was not your fault, it will often be possible to claim compensation. Bartletts Solicitors has successfully represented guests injured at nightclubs across England and Wales. Find out more:

https://www.bartlettslaw.co.uk/bar-accident-claims/compensation-for-slipping-on-a-wet-dance-floor.html

https://www.bartlettslaw.co.uk/bar-accident-claims/compensation-for-cut-from-broken-glass-in-club.html

Scarring to exposed areas of the body can cause extreme self-consciousness and a perception of deformity. Laser scar removal treatments provide a fast and effective solution; the procedure is often chosen to eliminate acne scars which patients may have suffered with for many years, and to treat scars from surgery, viruses, accidents and fights. Professionals claim that laser surgery can reduce the visibility of scars by up to 80%.

The undeniable benefits of laser scar removal often obscures the fact that laser procedures are highly technical in nature, particularly the matching of laser type and beam intensity to individual scar characteristics. The skill and experience of dermatologists and laser technicians are essential to the success of the procedure, and the choice of clinic is therefore of paramount importance to the prospective patient.

Scarring is caused by an excess or lack of the supply of collagen to a wound during the healing process. Keloid scars are raised scars, resulting from concentrations of collagen, and may develop in size and surface area over time. Hypertrophic scars are similar, but will not expand beyond the site of the initial wound and will fade over time, while acne and skin disease scars are defined as atrophic scars, characterised by small, regular depressions in the skin.

While laser scar removal procedures have a high success rate, inevitably there are certain risks involved. The laser itself may cause burns and additional scarring if directed at the wound site or areas of healthy skin for fractionally too long. There are a number of contraindications that make laser scar removal unsuitable, including skin diseases such as dermatitis and psoriasis. There is also a moderate risk of either hyperpigmentation (darkening of skin) or hypopigmentation (lightening of skin) resulting from laser scar removal.

We have recently dealt with cases where laser treatments, including laser car removal, have gone disastrously wrong for clients. In the resulting compensation claims we have recovered damages for pain and suffering, as well as medical and travel expenses and loss of earnings for time off work. Contact us today for free expert legal advice:

https://www.bartlettslaw.co.uk/hair-beauty/claim-compensation-for-IPL-burns.html

All laser treatments, including tattoo removal, that involve a beam being directed at and penetrating the skin have clear risks attached, and much depends on the training, skill and experience of the practitioner carrying out the procedure. With laser tattoo removal, multiple sessions are usually necessary to achieve the desired results, and this increases the possibility of something going wrong. Following deregulation of cosmetic laser treatments in 2010, procedures are now offered by a variety of providers, which has raised concerns not only about the qualifications of laser treatment practitioners, but also about the quality of the laser equipment used at clinics and salons.

Establishments offering laser tattoo removal treatments need to accurately assess a client’s skin type and sensitivity before their first procedure, most importantly to work out the intensity of the laser beam and the duration that it will be directed at the target area. Burns, associated skin damage like blistering, infections, keloid scarring and discolouration are all possibilities if the laser is set to too high a frequency or if the beam is directed at the skin for even fractionally too long. Prospective laser tattoo removal clients need to make sure that their chosen clinic or salon has an established record of carrying out laser treatments successfully, and that the pre-treatment care they receive is thorough and professional.           

As with all the treatments offered at laser clinics and beauty salons, clients have the legal right to expect that their procedure will be carried out in a reasonably competent manner. Currently, no formal qualifications are required for practitioners to offer laser treatments like tattoo removal to the general public, meaning that there are inevitably some establishments that should not be offering such procedures due to their lack of training and inexperience. 

We have recently dealt with cases where laser tattoo removal treatments have gone wrong, leaving clients injured and partially disfigured. In the resulting compensation claims we have recovered damages for pain and suffering, medical expenses (including the cost of corrective treatments) and loss of earnings due to time off work. Find out more:

https://www.bartlettslaw.co.uk/hair-beauty/lawyers-suing-for-laser-tattoo-removal-injuries.html