Slip and fall accidents are a type of premises liability claim that refers to a person slipping or tripping and falling on someone else’s property that typically results in an injury. Many hazardous conditions could cause someone to suffer injuries after a fall, some of which include:

Wet/ Slippery Floors

According to the National Floor Safety Institute, more than half of all reported slip and fall accidents result from this hazard. This could be caused by spills that are not cleaned up, lack of wet floor signage, recently mopped or waxed floors or even slick entrances of stores from rain.

Lack of Safety Practices

An employer’s duty to provide safe workplaces comes with the responsibility of adequate training and worksite maintenance. Employees of businesses should be appropriately trained on ways to keep their workplace hazard-free. This saves them from premises liability lawsuits filed by guests and workers’ compensation claims filed by their employees.

Tripping Hazards

Items across the floor such as ropes, cords, or wires are often a significant safety hazard when looking at slip/trip and fall accidents. Other road conditions like potholes, uneven, cracked sidewalks and loose carpets can also put people at risk of falling and being injured.

Poor Lighting

Without seeing fully, it is likely to sustain injuries from a fall. A property owner has to make sure that areas like stairwells, garages, walkways, and sidewalks are well lit for anyone walking on them.

Defective Hand Rails

People tend to rely on handrails when climbing stairs to apartments, shopping centers, hotels, and complexes. Failure to have a safe handrail can result in a person losing balance or grip and sustaining injuries from the fall.

Types of Slip and Fall Accidents

“Slip and Fall” is a term used when referring to a variety of similar types of accidents. When encountering hazardous walking conditions, someone can experience one of the following:

• Slip and fall – occur when wet or slippery floors cause the contact of a person’s foot and the floor does not support the walker’s center of gravity, and they fall.
• Trip and fall – occurs when someone falls because of an unexpected object in their path.
• Step and fall – occurs when someone encounters a hole or any other unexpected lack of walking surface.
• Stump and fall – occurs when one of your feet is impeded by a hazard.

Who Is Responsible?

When someone is injured on property that isn’t their own, many parties could be liable. To successfully prove the injury was caused due to the other parties’ negligence, certain qualifications must be met.

Commercial Properties

To legally be held responsible, the property owner must:

• Have caused the spill, worn/torn spot, or other slippery hazards
• Have known the dangerous associated but did nothing about it
• Have known about the hazard because a “reasonable” person taking care of it discovered, removed, or repaired it

Residential Property

To be legally held responsible, the tenant must prove:

• The landlord had control over the condition
• Repairing the condition wouldn’t have been unreasonably challenging or expensive
• The severe injury was a foreseeable consequence of not fixing the hazard
• The landlord’s failure to take reasonable action to fix the hazard caused the injury/fall

Contact A Lawyer

Consider working with an attorney right away if you or someone you know has sustained injuries from a slip and fall due to the property owner’s negligence. Even if you are unsure of the person responsible for the accident, contacting a lawyer and discussing the details of your case can be beneficial. Here at The Law Offices of John R. Mathias, P.A., our team of skilled professionals has what it takes to fight for your rights and get you the compensation you not only need but deserve. Let us help you.

Contact us today at 727-362-2122 or fill out an online form to schedule your free case review with a member of our team.