The Injured Visitor Who Refuses Help
At 13:20 a woman slips on a wet patch in the lobby of a shopping centre where you are posted. The floor had been mopped 10 minutes earlier; a 'wet floor' cone was placed but has been knocked over and lies flat. She is holding her wrist, which is swelling, and says she is fine and needs to catch a bus. She is visibly shaken and her hand is trembling. Two shoppers have stopped to watch. The cleaner who mopped the area is on his break and cannot be found.
1. What are your immediate priorities, and what must you do about the hazard?
Read the worked answer
Priorities in order:
- Make the area safe - stand the cone back up, rope or block the wet patch, and ask a colleague to guard it. A second person slipping is the most likely next harm.
- Attend to the casualty - do not move her injured wrist. Offer first aid, a seat, and cold pack if available. Ask if she wants an ambulance; if she declines, still offer to call someone for her.
- Record, don't dismiss. Even if she leaves, you must document the slip, the wet floor, the fallen cone, the time of mopping, and that she declined assistance. Her refusal does not erase the incident.
- Report to your supervisor immediately and log the cleaner's absence from the area and the missing supervision of the wet floor.
2. She insists on leaving. What do you do, and what do you write down?
Read the worked answer
You cannot detain her - she is free to leave. But you should:
- Ask for her name and a contact number so the centre can follow up; if she refuses, note that.
- Note her description and time of departure, and whether she left alone or with anyone.
- Offer to call a taxi or a friend and record whether she accepted.
- Write an incident report covering: date/time, exact location, cause (wet floor, cone down), her reported injury and refusal of help, witnesses present, cleaner's absence, and the corrective action (area re-coned and cordoned).
Reasoning: the report protects her (she may seek treatment later and need evidence), protects the centre (a contemporaneous record is far stronger than a reconstruction days later), and protects you. Never write opinions like 'she was fine' - write what you observed.