Most public liability claims in Perth stem from slips, trips and falls caused by poorly maintained premises — closely followed by falling objects, defective flooring and inadequate hazard warnings in shopping centres, workplaces and public spaces. Understanding how these incidents happen, and why they occur so often, can help injured Perth residents recognise whether they may have grounds for a claim.

What Types Of Accidents Most Often Lead To Public Liability Claims In Perth?

Public liability claims generally arise when someone is injured on property they don’t own or control, and the injury results from a hazard the occupier failed to address. The most frequent scenarios include:

Slips and falls on wet, uneven or poorly lit floors in supermarkets, shopping centres, restaurants and pubs
Trips on damaged footpaths, broken paving or unmarked steps
Injuries from falling stock, shelving or building materials
Incidents at events with inadequate crowd control or unsafe temporary structures
Dog attacks where an owner failed to restrain an animal in a public setting
Swimming pool injuries linked to missing fencing or absent safety signage

Each of these situations involves a party — a business, council, landlord or event organiser — who owed a duty of care to the people using their premises. When that duty isn’t met and someone gets hurt as a result, a public liability claim may follow.

Where In Perth Do Most Public Liability Incidents Happen?

Public liability incidents tend to cluster wherever large numbers of people move through a space that someone else is responsible for maintaining. In Perth, that typically means shopping centres and supermarkets, where spills, loose mats and cluttered aisles are common. Hospitality venues — restaurants, pubs and function centres — present risk through wet floors and uneven outdoor seating areas. Car parks and stairwells are often poorly lit or have damaged surfaces that go unnoticed until someone is hurt.

Public footpaths and reserves fall under council responsibility and can develop hazards like cracked paving or tree root damage over time. Construction and building sites present a particular overlap, where public liability can intersect with worker safety obligations if members of the public are exposed to site hazards.

The common thread across all of these locations is foot traffic combined with a hazard that wasn’t identified, fixed or flagged in time. The busier a space, the more chances there are for a hazard to go unnoticed until an injury forces the issue.

Why Do Slip And Fall Incidents Make Up Such A Large Share Of Public Liability Cases?

Slips and falls dominate public liability claims because the hazards behind them are so common and so easily overlooked. A spilled drink in a food court, a freshly mopped floor without a warning sign or a loose mat at a shop entrance can all cause a serious injury in seconds. These incidents are also comparatively straightforward to establish, which is part of why they show up so often in claims. If a business knew about a hazard — or should reasonably have known about it — and didn’t fix it or warn visitors within a reasonable timeframe, that failure can support a negligence claim.

The injury itself is often significant too: a fall onto a hard floor can cause fractures, head injuries or long-term joint damage, particularly for older Perth residents. Age and mobility also play a role. Older visitors, people with prior joint issues and those in unfamiliar surroundings are more likely to suffer a serious injury from what looks like a minor fall, which is one reason retail and hospitality venues carry ongoing exposure to this type of claim.

How Do Poor Maintenance, Hazards And Negligence Lead To Injuries In Public Places?

Poor maintenance is rarely a single dramatic failure. It’s usually a build-up of small oversights — a handrail that’s never been tightened, a car park pothole that’s been reported but not repaired, lighting in a stairwell that’s been flickering for months. Individually, these things might seem minor. Combined with foot traffic and time, they become genuine safety hazards. In Western Australia, occupiers of land — including retailers, landlords, councils and event organisers — owe visitors a duty to take reasonable care against foreseeable risks of harm. This duty doesn’t mean a property has to be risk-free. It means the occupier needs to act reasonably to identify and address hazards they know about, or ought to know about given how the property is used.

Consider a shopper who slips on a puddle near a drinks fridge in a supermarket. If store records show staff had logged the same fridge leaking on previous occasions and no repair was scheduled, that history can be significant. It suggests the hazard was foreseeable and the business had time to act but didn’t — a pattern that often underpins a successful public liability claim. Negligence in these cases usually comes down to a gap between what a reasonable occupier would have done and what actually happened. A supermarket that inspects its floors every hour is behaving differently to one that only checks once a shift. A council that responds to footpath complaints within weeks is in a different position to one that lets reports sit for months. These gaps are often what separates an unfortunate accident from a claim with real substance.

What Must Be Proven In A Public Liability Claim?

Not every injury in a public place leads to a successful claim. Generally, three things need to be established:

Duty of care — that the occupier owed a duty to keep the space reasonably safe for people using it
Breach of that duty — that the occupier failed to act reasonably in identifying or addressing a hazard
Causation — that the breach directly caused the injury, and that the harm was a foreseeable result of the hazard

This is why evidence gathered close to the time of the incident matters so much. Photos of the hazard, an incident report, medical records and witness statements all help build a clearer picture of what happened and why. Without that evidence, it can be harder to show that a business or council fell short of the standard expected of them — even where the injury itself is genuine and significant.

What Should You Do After Being Injured In A Public Place In Perth?

If you’re injured in a public space, the steps you take early on can matter later — even if you’re not certain yet whether you’ll pursue a claim:

Seek medical attention and keep records of any treatment, diagnosis or ongoing symptoms
Photograph the hazard — the wet floor, broken step, damaged equipment — before it’s cleaned up or repaired
Report the incident to the business, council or property manager and ask for an incident report number
Note witness details if anyone saw what happened
Keep receipts and records of any expenses linked to the injury, including medical costs and time off work
Get advice on whether the circumstances support a claim and what timeframes apply

Public liability claims in WA are subject to strict limitation periods, so it’s worth getting advice sooner rather than later — even if you’re still unsure how serious your injury is or whether you want to pursue anything.

How Blumers Can Help

At Blumers, we act for injured people — not insurers, not businesses, not councils. If you’ve been hurt in a public place in Perth and you’re not sure whether your situation supports a claim, get in touch with our team. We work on a no-win, no-fee basis, so there’s no financial barrier to having that first conversation. We can look at what happened, explain what the process involves and give you a clear picture of where you stand — without any obligation to go further.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is considered a public liability claim in Perth?

A public liability claim generally involves an injury caused by someone else’s negligence in a public or commercial space — for example, a slip in a shopping centre, a trip on a damaged footpath or an injury caused by inadequately maintained property.

Who can be held responsible for a public liability injury?

Responsibility can fall on the owner or occupier of the property, a business operating from the premises, a local council or an event organiser, depending on who had control over the area and the hazard involved.

Do I need proof the business knew about the hazard?

Not always. It can be enough to show the business ought reasonably to have known about the hazard through routine inspection or maintenance, even if there’s no record they were told about it directly.

How long do I have to make a public liability claim in Perth?

Time limits apply and vary depending on the circumstances of the injury, so it’s best to get advice as early as possible rather than waiting until you’re close to a deadline.

Can I still claim if I was partly responsible for the accident?

Potentially, yes. WA law allows for situations where responsibility is shared, though this can affect the value of a claim. Our team can help assess how this might apply to your situation.

Does it matter if I didn’t report the incident straight away?

It’s better to report incidents as soon as possible, but a delay doesn’t automatically rule out a claim. Medical records, photos and witness accounts can still support a case even without an immediate incident report.