Accidents in Gyms

A range of different accidents can happen in gyms and fitness centres. While some injuries can be caused naturally through exercising, gym injuries are sometimes caused by other people. Other avoidable factors can contribute, including:

• Faulty machinery
• Loose mats
• Water on the floor
• Free weights not being stored/put away correctly
• Inaccurate advice given by gym staff.

Your gym is responsible for keeping you safe while you’re training. If they’ve failed to do this and you’ve been injured, you’re entitled to make a compensation claim.

By making a claim, you could get compensation to help you pay for any medical costs or expenses you’ve incurred because of your injury. For more information on making a gym accident claim, get in touch with our team of specialists today.

If you’ve had a gym accident, we advise you to seek medical attention straight away. We suggest that you keep any receipts, prescriptions, or medical reports as these can be used as evidence of the impact the accident has had on your life. If you can, take photos of your injury after the accident, and as you recuperate.

When gyms don’t follow safety precautions, they’re failing to fulfil their duty to protect you. If you think your gym didn’t follow safety procedures and you were injured, we could help you make a claim.

Although there are no gym-specific rules to follow, gyms do have to comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974) to keep their users safe. To ensure your safety, gym staff should:

• Regularly check all equipment
• Monitor hazards such as liquids, mats, and free weights
• Provide signs to inform you how to use machinery
• Always make sure that you have an induction/explanation of how to use equipment by qualified personnel
• Issue guidelines on suitable dress codes and ensure that these are followed
• Make sure all equipment is wiped down and put away.

If you’ve been injured because of neglect in relation to the above factors, you could be able to make a gym accident claim. To find out more about making a claim, contact us.

When you make a claim with us, you’ll first have a free consultation where we’ll learn more about what’s happened to you. After this consultation, we’ll discuss if we can take your claim forward and if we can, what the next steps are. We’ll also discuss funding options, such as no win no fee agreements.

Our experts will then gather evidence to take your claim to those responsible. This includes collecting medical records, getting CCTV footage from the gym (if available), and speaking to any witnesses in the leisure centre.

We might use independent medical experts as part of your claim. They can help us better understand your injuries and how they could affect you in the future. Their expertise can be crucial when settling a claim.

Once we’ve gathered evidence, we’ll take your claim to those responsible for your injuries. If they accept they were to blame, we’ll begin trying to get you interim payments. Any interim payments will be taken off your final compensation amount but can help cover any financial losses you’ve had.

If the other party doesn’t accept fault or disagrees with the compensation amount, we might need to go to court. We always try to avoid claims going to court, and even when a date is set, claims can be settled beforehand.

Read more about what happens if your case goes to court.

Your compensation for an accident in the gym can be used to help pay for several things, including:

• Further treatment
• Medical expenses
• Adaptations to your home or care
• Rehabilitation

With personal injury claims like gym injuries, you’ve got three years from the date of the incident to make a claim. We always encourage people to contact us as soon as possible because evidence is easier to collect and the details of the gym accident are more likely to be fresher in your memory.

There are exceptions to this three-year rule, including for:

• Children (the three-year limit starts when they turn 18)
• Someone who lacks mental capacity.

We can explain more about time limits to claiming when you contact us.

Yes, many of our cases are funded by a no win no fee agreement. This means that there’s no financial risk to you when making a compensation claim for an accident in a gym.

Please visit our no win no fee page for more information on how it works.

Every gym injury claim is unique, so we can’t give you an accurate figure for how much compensation you could get. When you contact us to tell us more about your situation, we’ll give you an estimation of much compensation you’ll receive.

When working out how much compensation we think you should get, we’ll consider:

• Loss of earnings, now and in the future
• Expenses
• Pain and suffering
• Further treatments/medication
• Any adaptations, such as to your home
• Care costs (if applicable)