Supermarkets are strange places if you think about it… After all, everyone in there is totally focused on what they’re doing, which actually means they’re distracted in reality and not paying attention to what’s happening around them, and that’s probably why people fall and slip in supermarkets so often. With that in mind, here’s what to do if you fall in a supermarket.

Don’t Worry About Looking Silly

This sounds obvious, but embarrassment tends to make people behave a bit oddly after an accident, and you might try to stand up too quickly just to get away from the crowd or reassure them you’ve not been hurt. Meanwhile, you’re in a massive amount of pain, and you know something’s very wrong.

The truth is, it’s fine to stop for a minute, and if you can’t get up, or it’s potentially going to cause more pain or damage, stay where you are - you’re in a place with lots of people, and someone will be able to help you.

Work Out What Actually Happened

Once the initial shock subsides more, it’s useful to look around and try to work out what happened, because there might be any number of reasons you fell or slipped. Was there liquid on the floor? Damaged tiling? Had someone dropped something and it hadn’t been cleared up?

It might be obvious, or it might take a bit of extra looking around, but either way it’s going to help to know what it was that made you fall.

Tell Staff Before You Leave

Just in case no one noticed, and even if you think you’re fine, it’s wise to let staff know you fell before you leave the shop. That’s because the annoying thing about falls is that injuries often appear afterwards rather than straight away, so you’ll go home thinking you’re fine, but then realise something’s wrong later on.

If the accident’s been recorded already, everything’s going to be a lot easier later on if you need to refer back to it.

Take Photos

People always feel a bit embarrassed taking photos after accidents, but it’s important to do it because things can change very quickly, and you need to have evidence of what happened.

If it was a spill, it’s going to get cleaned up and warning signs will appear, for example, which is the right thing to happen, but not very useful if you don’t get photos to show there was a problem before it’s dealt with.

Get Some Help

A lot of people try handling everything themselves after an accident, especially if they feel awkward and don’t want to make a fuss, but if the injury starts affecting work, your daily life, or if recovery takes longer than expected, it’s usually worth speaking to someone properly about it.

It could be that it’s time to look into a supermarket injury claim, for example, especially if the accident happened because something clearly wasn’t safe to begin with.

Disclosure: This is a collaborative post.