Legal Injury GuideWhat To Do After a Slip and Fall Accident
A slip and fall accident can produce injuries far more severe than the incident appears in the moment — fractured hips, head trauma, and spinal damage are common. Property owners and their insurers move quickly to investigate and minimize liability. The steps you take in the first 24 to 72 hours directly determine whether you can prove the hazard existed, that the owner knew about it, and that it caused your injuries. This checklist tells you exactly what to do.
14 steps — complete each in order for best results
~28 min read- 1
Stay at the Scene — Do Not Leave Immediately
Resist the urge to get up and walk away out of embarrassment or shock. Remain at the location until you have reported the incident and gathered evidence. Leaving the scene immediately makes it far harder to document the hazard before it is cleaned up, repaired, or otherwise altered. Staying also allows witnesses to identify themselves to you.
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Photograph the Hazard Before It Is Altered
Use your phone to photograph the exact condition that caused your fall — the wet floor, broken step, uneven pavement, missing handrail, or other hazard — from multiple angles before you report the incident to staff. Property employees often respond to slip and fall reports by immediately cleaning or repairing the hazard. Photographs taken before any remediation are your strongest evidence.
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Get Witness Names and Contact Information
Identify every person who witnessed your fall or who was in the area and may have observed the hazardous condition. Collect their full name, phone number, and email address. Witnesses who saw the hazard before you fell are particularly valuable — they speak to how long the dangerous condition existed, which establishes that the property owner had time to remedy it.
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Report the Incident to Management and Obtain a Copy
Notify the property manager, store manager, building supervisor, or owner about the fall before leaving. Ask them to create a written incident report and request a copy on the spot. Review the report for accuracy. If they decline to provide a copy, note the name of the person you spoke with and the date and time, and follow up in writing within 24 hours.
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Seek Medical Attention the Same Day
Even if you feel able to walk and your pain seems manageable, visit an emergency room, urgent care facility, or your primary care physician the same day. Adrenaline masks pain. Many fall injuries — including hip fractures, concussions, and lumbar disc herniations — present with mild initial symptoms. A same-day medical record is essential to establishing that the fall caused your injuries.
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Preserve Your Footwear as Evidence
Place the shoes you were wearing at the time of the fall in a sealed plastic bag without cleaning or altering them in any way. The condition of your shoe soles is frequently contested in slip and fall cases — the defense often argues that worn or inappropriate footwear was the cause of the fall rather than the property's hazardous condition. Preserve your shoes to rebut this argument.
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Also Preserve the Clothing You Were Wearing
Bag and set aside the clothing worn during the fall, particularly if it was torn, stained with blood, or shows evidence of the fall. Do not wash these items. Clothing evidence corroborates the severity of the fall, the direction of impact, and in some cases the nature of the substance that caused the fall — especially in wet floor cases where residue may remain on fabric.
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Start a Pain and Symptom Journal
Beginning the day of the fall, keep a daily written record documenting your pain levels, symptoms, activities you are unable to perform, sleep disruption, medical appointments, and emotional distress. Note every way the injury affects your daily life. This contemporaneous diary is compelling evidence of how the accident has impacted your quality of life, supporting non-economic damage claims.
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Decline to Give Recorded Statements to the Property Insurer
The property owner's insurance adjuster may contact you quickly and request a recorded statement about the fall and your injuries. You are generally not legally required to provide one. These statements are used to lock you into early accounts before you know the full extent of your injuries, and to find inconsistencies that can be exploited to reduce your claim.
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Consult a Premises Liability Attorney Promptly
Slip and fall cases require proving the property owner knew or should have known about the hazardous condition and failed to fix it within a reasonable time. These cases are legally complex and aggressively defended. An experienced attorney will send surveillance footage preservation letters, identify prior complaints about the hazard, retain appropriate experts, and build the evidence record necessary to prove liability.
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Follow All Medical Treatment Recommendations
Attend every scheduled appointment, complete all prescribed physical therapy, take medications as directed, and comply with all activity restrictions. Gaps in treatment or failure to follow medical orders give insurers grounds to argue your injuries were not serious or that you prolonged your own recovery through non-compliance, both of which reduce your recoverable compensation.
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Preserve All Records and Bills
Collect and organize every document related to your fall and injuries: the incident report, all medical records and bills, pharmacy receipts, correspondence with the property owner and insurer, and documentation of any missed work. Create both physical and digital copies. Your attorney will use this complete record to calculate the full value of your claim and present it persuasively.
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Notify Your Own Insurance if Applicable
Depending on where the fall occurred and the nature of your insurance coverage, your own health insurer, auto insurer, or homeowner's policy may have relevant coverage or notification requirements. Review your policies and report the incident as required. Failure to notify your own insurer within required timeframes can result in coverage denial for medical expenses.
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Avoid Social Media Entirely During Your Claim
Do not post anything about the accident, your injuries, your physical activities, or your daily life on any social media platform while your claim is active. Defense investigators routinely monitor social media accounts. A single photograph showing you active, smiling, or physically capable — regardless of context or the actual date it was taken — can be used to undermine your credibility.
For informational purposes only. Not legal advice. Consult a licensed attorney.