What are the next steps after a restaurant highchair accident?

[BessieBye]

This evening we went to a local restaurant that we go to a fair bit. We had pre booked the table so it was set out with a highchair for my 7 month old DS

About 5 minutes after sitting down, my DH put my son into the highchair. For clarity it was an IKEA highchair with no tray, so the chair was tucked under and his body close to the table.

A minute later, the highchair fell to the floor - with my son in it. Turns out, the highchair only had 3 legs, one had been detached. The front left leg was missing so we did not notice as it was already tucked half under the table.

He fell still in the sitting position within the highchair and hit his head - it has a red mark and we have been to A&E, he’s fine. His chin must’ve missed the table by a cm.

My parents were with us and my Dad is ready to start WW3 and he told them to expect to hear from a solicitor. Manager of restaurant accepted that the leg was missing and it was their fault.

We left very soon after and obviously for me it is all a blur

My question is, will a solicitor actually achieve anything here? Is it worth it? He wants to pursue negligence

I am too shocked to be angry right now, I burst into tears everytime it replays in my head. I thought I was going to be physically sick.

thanks for any advice

The chair was missing a leg and the child could have been seriously injured. The fact he was not, is irrelevant.

It’s not only relevant, it’s everything. Serious injury is the only thing that could be claimed for (assuming there was no property, like clothing, damaged). You can’t claim compensation for someone being negligent in itself. The negligence has to have caused some damage you can be compensated for.

No. The report from a&e will state he is fine and was allowed home afterwards. What it will cost will far outweigh what you get in return.

It should be reported to the restaurant as they need to record it and make sure it doesn't happen again.

It obviously can't be taken any further, as your son is fine.

Or, an inexperienced member of staff just didn’t notice? In the same way that the father didn’t notice when he placed the child in the chair? Like I said, personally, I’d be relieved DC was ok and do nothing more.

Oh please the world has actually gone mad. You are being hysterical and dramatic. Your father is being an arse. What exactly do you want from this.
Perhaps they could tar and feather the responsible staff member. Am sure that would help.

Oh, come on now. Are you suggesting the waiting staff saw it had a leg missing and deliberately hid it under the table so that the baby would be injured? And you’d be happy to pursue that wild story to get your day in Court? Crazy…..

Yes I got a response to what I was seeking, I haven’t challenged the actual good advice that has been posted. I am not here to argue with something I know nothing about! That’s the whole reason I’m here.

thank you for being fair :)

What outcome from this do you hope to achieve?
To sue someone for negligence you need to prove 3 things:

1. There was a duty of care
2. That duty of care was breached
3. There was consequential harm

From what you've described the first 2 were committed but point 3 wasn't. Although your son was hurt and it was distressing for everyone, no ongoing life limiting harm was caused and there was no financial loss unless you had to miss work (this a loss of earnings) and incurred extensive travel costs etc so i don't think you'llhave any luck going down that route. Ultimately I'm sure your objective is to make sure this never happens again and the restaurant takes full accountability? It might be that it could be notifiable to RIDDOR as a near miss incident and their H&S needs to under serious review?

Yes. Explain to me how else a baby’s high chair with a leg obviously missing was put in place to be used. Someone had to put it there. There’s been a breach of health and safety rules here. I don’t think compensation of any kind is appropriate because there was no ongoing injury, but at the very least the restaurant need to investigate what happened, and the matter needs to be reported to health and safety.

Firstly I'm really glad DS is okay!
Secondly, you are in shock and so is your dad. You are rightly emotional and thinking what could of happened. It's likely this is your dad's way of dealing with the fear his DGS was badly hurt at someone else's stupid mistake.
It is absolutely horrifying when your child takes a hit to the head, your brain is replaying it to help you process your emotions and you will feel okay again although you'll probably never really trust a highchair again.
My DC was hurt at a chain pub, not really negligent as such but an easily avoidable one that did cause my DC to need an minor operation. I had no claim and the local council fobbed me off. My main concern was actually that nobody on site was first aid trained and they didn't have a proper first aid kit. I felt it should of been reported to RIDDOR but I didn't get anywhere with it in the end.
However life long my DC is fine, their injury is no longer even there and they don't actually remember any of it.

Not a problem at all, and I’m sorry that although there is some sound advice in this thread it’s buried amongst armchair lawyers and people unnecessarily dragging you for asking a question. I’ve been there with my kids being hurt and it’s scary as all get up. I’m just glad he’s ok!

OP, I'm so relieved that your little one is okay.

However, the positioning of the dangerously unsafe highchair to actually hide the broken leg is very concerning and more than a health and safety breach. It shows a concerning level of indifference to the safety of their patrons on the part of at least one member of staff.
I think that if the restaurant doesn't reach out to you to check on your son, explain how this happened, what steps will be taken to ensure it can't happen again, and sincerely apologize with a good will gesture, in the next 24 hours, I would be putting factual one star reviews on various platforms to warn others who may be accompanied by vulnerable companions about their willingness to not only keep broken furniture in use but to use positioning to hide their instability.

I'm surprised at the responses, you're not grasping at money and surely it would be a way of making them take the incident seriously if they have some litigation, it would easily be chalked up as an oh well we've learned our lesson accident otherwise but it could easily have been so much worse! Balancing a high chair on three legs and relying on the table to support it was negligent, they KNOW a vulnerable baby or very young child sits in it, it should be a no brained.

It wasn't, so yes I think a solicitor is in order to make them take it very very seriously tbh.

Im so sorry to hear about your little man, it sounds awful and scary BUT please always check a highchair before you put him in it. Hugs to you

I’m not here seeking answers I want to hear, or because I want financial gain etc etc

Just want to know if my Dad actually had anywhere to go with it, because I am clueless. Now I know he doesn’t, so I can tell him to leave it. He is usually spot on with things, he is the first person I turn to when I need help and I trust him completely, but in the back of my mind thinking ‘there’s probably nothing to get out of it’ which is why I came here. I don’t know why some people just became very aggressive immediately towards me! (Not you)

He is up a height, we all are, very distressing for anyone to see.

I agree with those suggesting the HSE. It sounds like they knew there was something wrong with the chair and hoped that shoving it under the table would be enough or that if it was under the table, you wouldn't notice the missing leg. Negligence.

I’d personally take it further they have been incredibly risky in not ensuring the high chairs are fit for purpose, this surely must go against health and safety! I’d look into it as you or another family might not be as lucky next time

Those high chairs are not suitable for babies your child’s age they are for older ones who can sit up on their own so why on earth did you even put him in there in the first place? He could easily have flopped forward and smacked his head off the table without the leg incident and the whole thing would have been your fault!

You think someone thought oh I'll remove a leg and damage a child. I dont think you understand what intentional means

Calm down! Your kid had a bump to the head , upsetting snd horrible to have to go to A and E. - BUT HE IS FINE !!!!

compensation is only if he was brain damaged or lost snd eye or in someway permanently impaired affecting his functioning and quality of life

a free meal / voucher and apology
you go there a lot and know the staff and like this place so why do you want to ruin them and potentially put them out of business!

Post partum depression with my first and post partum anxiety with my second. Both triggered by their births. I will be having no more that’s for certain!! 😊

The third point the poster says didn't happen, a) did happen he hit his head, just because it requires no further medical attention doesn't mean it didn't hurt your baby. And b) it COULD have been so bad and near misses are reportable to the HSE, its one of the first things you learn in jobs where you need to deal with H&S. They were so negligent and actively put a child in danger, they are offering high chair facilities and it's their responsibility to maintain them and ensure they are fit for purpose.

At least report to relevant body ad it could easily have been a worse injury and it's pure luck that it wasn't, that's not good H&S policy.

Are you always this insulting ? Of course I know what intentional means. I didn’t say someone removed a leg did I ? But it’s clear that whoever positioned it intended for it to be used, and clearly knew there was a leg missing when they positioned it - it would be perfectly clear to anyone with half a brain that that would be dangerous and very possibly cause injury to the baby sitting in it. What’s that if not intentional ?

The Antilop is fine for that age. Babies are meant to be sitting up before weaning and getting to 7 months without doing that would be highly unusual.

He is 7 months old, sitting unaided for 6 weeks. What on earth?