My cleaner tripped in the bath at my flat – can she make a claim against me?

I have a cleaner who comes to my apartment every Friday. A few weeks ago, while she was cleaning the bathroom, she stopped in the bathroom with a shower over it and slipped and hurt her ankle. He broke the shower head when he fell.

I don’t think he was injured too badly, but he did have to take a day or two off work to recover.

She has decided not to come to clean my apartment anymore and her last appointment will be at the end of this month. Its cleaning is not very thorough and I plan to find a replacement.

Am I at risk of being sued by my cleaner for getting injured in my apartment? How easily can I make a claim and how much money, if any, might I have to hand over? Will my insurance help with this?

This is Money’s Jane Denton answers: Cleaners may face a number of dangers while working in people’s homes. There have been cases of cleaners getting electrocuted, slipping on wet floors, or suffering skin ailments or burns from chemical-laden cleaning products.

If your cleaner decides to make a claim, they will usually have three years from the date of the incident to do so. Ultimately, only your cleaner can decide whether to make a claim.

From what you’ve said, the scale of your cleaner’s potential claim may be limited, but this may depend on the exact extent of her injury and whether it continues to affect her ability to work.

If you are concerned about a possible claim, you should consider contacting your home insurance provider. This is because many policies include clauses regarding public liability insurance, which must cover you if you, as the owner or occupier of your home, are held liable to a person or property.

This could include events such as a visitor tripping over a loose rug in your home.

I asked two lawyers for their views on your cleaner’s possible lawsuit.

Damian Bradley, partner at Express Solicitors, says: Your cleaner will likely be an independent contractor rather than your employee, but that doesn’t eliminate all potential liability.

Under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957, you have a duty of care to your legal visitors, including the cleaner.

You must therefore take reasonable steps to ensure that visitors are reasonably safe when using your premises for the purpose for which they have been invited.

Damian Bradley is a partner at Express Solicitors

You are not expected to eliminate all risks associated with performing the cleaning. However, if your cleaner was injured by a hidden or unusual hazard that you knew about and you failed to correct or warn them, then you may be liable if a claim is made.

For example, unexplained leaks, surface imperfections, or spilled bath oils that make the bathroom unusually slippery can create a trap for the careless cleaner.

However, where the risk arises from a mundane task such as cleaning the bathroom, liability is less likely, particularly where the cleaner controls how the job is carried out and is familiar with the flat.

Each claim is specific, but courts recognize that independent contractors bear responsibility for the obvious risks inherent in their work.

If your cleaner has made a claim, he or she will need medical evidence to support the injuries complained of.

If he was only away from work for a few days his injuries appear to be minor and I would expect this to be small compensation, probably a few hundred pounds.

Had he made a claim based on medical evidence, he would likely have been limited to the net loss of earnings he would have earned had he not been injured.

So this could be limited to two days worth of lost wages for you and other clients he couldn’t clean. Plus out-of-pocket expenses such as painkillers and care and assistance provided to him.

As a precaution, you should consider notifying your home insurer that you may be able to make a claim.

Ultimately, it is your cleaner’s decision whether to make a claim or not. Plaintiffs will usually need to file a lawsuit within three years of the accident and will need proof of your negligence in causing your cleaner’s ankle injury.

Realistically, it would probably be prohibitive to proceed as the value of this claim would likely exceed the costs, but if the injury is more serious then one may seek advice from a personal injury lawyer.

Tony Hannington, chairman of Lime Solicitors, says: The Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 places a duty on landlords to take adequate care to ensure that visitors such as your cleaner are reasonably safe.

However, this duty only covers hazards that arise from the condition of the facility or from things done or not done in the area, such as leaving drains open or unplugging electrical cords from the wall outlet.

Therefore, the court must determine whether the injury resulted from the condition of your home or the actions of the cleaner.

Tony Hannington is head of Lime Lawyers

Generally, a homeowner has no liability for obvious or self-inflicted risks.

One of the possible arguments the cleaner could have made was that the bathroom was extremely slippery, and this was not obvious to her. However, there is no suggestion in your description that anything different happened during the construction of the bath.

This can be distinguished from if a guest uses a hotel bathroom without a non-slip mat or handrail; because the standard expected from a hotel is higher than a private residence.

From what you’ve said, there’s no obvious reason why the cleaner needs to stand in the bathroom to do her job, and maybe it’s not something you’d expect her to do.

It is therefore unlikely that you will be found to have breached your duty of care or been negligent.

However, if a claim is successful, compensation may be awarded for the injury and financial losses suffered as a result of the injury.

You stated that the cleaner was not seriously injured, although the extent of the injury and long-term prognosis will be assessed by an independent medical consultant.

Indicatively, judicial guidelines suggest that an ankle injury that fully heals within a year is unlikely to receive compensation exceeding £6,710 plus any financial loss.

In the event of a claim, I highly recommend contacting your home insurer; because many policies provide public liability coverage for visitors’ claims.

There is no legal mechanism to prevent your cleaner from bringing a lawsuit that could be heard in district court until three years after the incident.

However, kindness and concern often work, and many clients tell me that if they had shown more compassion immediately following the injury, they would not have filed a lawsuit against the defendant.