Fall on outdoor stairs at work

[willo1976]

Hi, I am new to this so hopefully I am doing it right. I was looking for some advice if possible please. My wife fell at work, broke her ankle and gashed her foot. Initially it was accepted that her workplace would be liable but after their internal investigation they have decided that they are not and that my wife was at fault. The situation was that she was descending a flight of around 8 outdoor, brick built steps leading to the car park. It was wet, in between heavy rain showers and they have a lot of leaf debris which collects on and around the steps. The steps have no non-slip strips of any kind. There is a robust handrail in place. As she got to the bottom step and was about to step onto the car park my wife took her hand off the handrail and then slipped off the bottom step. She tried to steady herself but ended up falling heavily forwards onto the concrete car park which is uneven and in a considerable state of disrepair. It has many jagged edges which is how she came to gash the top of her foot. An ambulance was called and my wife was taken to A&E where they also found a broken bone in her ankle. The accident was reported and recorded in their accident book and has since been reported, as required, to the HSE. We have not yet seen the notes from the internal investigation but I am guessing they will be basing their findings on the fact that she slipped off the step and may not have had her hand on the handrail at that time. My limited understanding from what I have read on the HSE website is that the steps should have some kind of non-slip element and that the onus is on the firm to prove that my wife was careless on the steps rather than her proving that she was careful. There were no eye witnesses but there was pretty clear CCTV footage. Also, in my opinion, had the car park been in an acceptable state of repair she would certainly not has suffered the gash to the foot and very probably not lost her footing completely and broken the ankle. I understand these things are subjective and I am undoubtedly biased but I would like to have some kind of idea as to where we stand before meeting with their Health and Safety officer. Many thanks for any advice you can offer