You slipped on a spill in a supermarket aisle, or something fell off a shelf as you reached past it. Does that automatically mean the store has to pay? Not on its own — in Queensland a store injury claim turns on whether the shop fell short of the care it owed you, and whether that failure caused the injury. Here’s how that works.
A bar or pub must take reasonable care for patrons’ safety; if it didn’t and you were hurt, you may have a claim
Common causes include spills and wet floors, broken glass, poor lighting, overcrowding, and inadequate or excessive security
Strict time limits apply — generally three years to start court action, with earlier pre-court notice deadlines
1. When can you make a claim after an injury in a store?
You can make a store injury claim when a retailer failed to take reasonable care for your safety and that failure caused your injury. A shop invites the public in to browse and buy, so it carries a responsibility to take reasonable steps to keep customers reasonably safe — clear and unobstructed aisles, merchandise stacked securely, spills cleaned up promptly, and obvious hazards dealt with. This is a type of public liability claim — the framework that applies when someone is injured on another party’s premises. Under Queensland law, a person does not breach a duty of care unless the risk of harm was foreseeable, not insignificant, and a reasonable person in the same position would have taken precautions against it. Whether a particular incident supports a claim depends on the facts, but the starting question is always the same: did the store do what a reasonable retailer should have done, and did falling short cause the harm?
2. Why a slip in a store isn’t automatically the store’s fault
Being injured in a shop does not, on its own, mean the store is liable — the injured person has to show the retailer’s failure actually caused the harm. The leading example is the High Court of Australia’s decision in Strong v Woolworths Limited [2012] HCA 5, where a shopper on crutches slipped on a greasy chip left on the floor of a sidewalk-sales area outside a Big W store. The store had no system for inspecting and cleaning that area — it had last been checked hours earlier. The High Court held, by majority, that on the balance of probabilities the store’s failure to run a reasonable cleaning and inspection system caused the fall. The case was decided under New South Wales legislation, but the causation principles it applies are materially the same as those under Queensland’s Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld). The practical lesson for a store injury claim is that evidence about the hazard — what it was, how it got there, and how long it was left — often decides whether a claim succeeds.
3. What a store injury claim must show
A store injury claim generally succeeds only where three things can be shown — duty, breach, and causation.
- Duty of care. The store owed you a responsibility to take reasonable care for your safety. A retailer owes this to the customers it invites onto its premises.
- Breach. The store fell short of that responsibility — for example, leaving a spill unattended, stacking heavy stock unsafely on a high shelf, blocking an aisle, or failing to fix a known hazard like a loose floor tile.
- Causation. The breach actually caused your injury. Medical records linking the injury to the incident are typically what connect the two.
Most store injury claims start from one of a few recognisable incidents — a slip and fall in a store, falling merchandise, or a hazard in a walkway:
- Slips, trips and falls. Spilled liquids, wet or recently mopped floors without a warning sign, trailing cables, or uneven mats.
- Falling merchandise. Items stacked too high, overloaded, or placed insecurely on shelves above head height.
- Trolleys and equipment. Injuries from poorly maintained trolleys, automatic doors, or other store equipment.
- Obstructed or damaged walkways. Stock left in aisles, damaged flooring, or poor lighting.
You don’t have to work all this out on your own — but knowing what a claim must show helps you focus on the evidence that counts.
4. Time limits and the claim process
The three-year time limit for a store injury claim is strict and runs from the date of injury, so it’s worth looking into early.
A store must take reasonable care for the safety of its customers.
A claim turns on showing the store breached that duty and that the breach caused the injury.
Strict time limits apply — generally three years, with earlier pre-court notice deadlines.
Before any court action, Queensland public liability claims follow a set pre-court process. Under the Personal Injuries Proceedings Act 2002 (Qld), you must give the store a written Notice of Claim — generally within nine months of the incident (or when symptoms first appear), or within one month of first instructing a lawyer, whichever is earlier. The parties then exchange information and attend a compulsory conference, which aims to resolve the claim without a trial. Separately, court proceedings generally must be started within three years of the injury under the Limitation of Actions Act 1974 (Qld); once that period passes, a claim can become statute-barred whatever its merits. Because the notice deadlines arrive well before the three-year mark, a store injury claim is worth understanding early rather than left to sit.
5. What to do after an injury in a store
If you’re hurt in a shop, a few practical steps protect both your health and any later claim:
- Get medical attention. See a doctor and keep the records — they document the injury and help link it to the incident.
- Report it to the store. Tell management and ask for a written incident report, so there’s an official record of what happened.
- Photograph the scene. Capture the hazard — the spill, the fallen stock, the damaged floor — before it’s cleaned up or removed, along with your injuries.
- Ask about CCTV. Most stores have security cameras; note the time and location so footage can be requested before it’s overwritten.
- Get witness details. Names and contact numbers of staff or other shoppers who saw what happened can support your account later.
- Keep your expenses. Hold on to receipts for treatment, travel, and other costs the injury causes.
Not sure where to start? See your GP and request a copy of the records, then write down what happened while it’s fresh.
Possibly, but slipping in a store doesn’t on its own make the store liable. You’d generally need to show the store failed to take reasonable care — for example, no proper system for spotting and cleaning spills — and that this caused your injury.
Example: a drink left unmarked in an aisle for an hour points more clearly to a breach than one spilled moments before you walked past.
You may have a claim. A store is responsible for stacking and displaying stock safely, so if an item was overloaded, placed insecurely, or stacked too high and fell on you, that can amount to a breach of the duty of care. Whether a claim succeeds depends on the facts.
No. Being injured in a shop isn’t enough on its own; a store injury claim turns on showing the store fell short of reasonable care and that this caused your injury.
Example: if you tripped over your own bag rather than a store hazard, the store may not be at fault.
Generally three years from the date of injury to start court action, but earlier steps apply first. A formal Notice of Claim must usually be given within the earlier of nine months after the incident, or one month after you first instruct a lawyer — so the timing is worth checking early.
Evidence of the hazard and of the injury: photos of the unsafe condition before it’s cleaned up, the store’s incident report, any CCTV footage, witness details, and medical records linking the injury to the incident.
Example: a photo of an unmarked wet patch, plus a witness, can make a real difference months later.
6. Store injury claims: the key points
Whether you can make a store injury claim comes down to the duty a shop owed you, whether it fell short, and whether that failure caused your injury — and each situation depends on its own facts. If you think a claim might apply, the practical next steps are gathering your medical records, any incident report, photos, and CCTV details, while keeping the time limits in mind. Ascent Lawyers is a Brisbane personal injury firm that acts in public liability matters across Queensland, including injuries in shops and retail premises, and works with clients in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Vietnamese. The firm operates on a No Win No Fee basis. Specific cost arrangements are explained at initial consultation. For more general questions about how personal injury claims work in Queensland, see Ascent’s FAQ.
