The Centers for Disease Control report that approximately 8,000,000 non-fatal injuries, including spinal cord and traumatic head injuries, result from slip and fall accidents every year, and around 19,000 people die every year as from falls. Prominent among these fall accidents are those caused by slippery floors.
More people are treated in the emergency rooms because of falls than from car accidents, and falls are the number one cause of workplace deaths, the third most common cause of accidental death, and the most common cause of accidental death in people over the age of sixty-five. These are pretty shocking figures. A large number of these falls could have… and should have been prevented.
What constitutes negligence in slip and fall accidents?
Property owners are legally required to use reasonable care in the maintenance of their premises and may not expose others to an unreasonable risk of harm, such as a slip and fall accident on a slippery floor. Owners have a duty to inspect their premises for unsafe conditions and to eliminate those conditions or at the very least warn people of conditions that pose a risk of injury.
Retail stores, restaurants, malls, apartment and office buildings, and supermarkets are all places where slippery floors may cause accident. The cause may be a spill, a leak, or a floor that has been cleaned or waxed. When these conditions occur and are not taken care of, and an accident happens, the owner may be held liable for the resulting injuries. To prove negligence, the victim, through his or her attorney, must show that
- The owner of the premises or an employee caused the spill or other slippery dangerous surface
- The owner of the premises or an employee must have known of the dangerous surface but done nothing about it.
- The owner of the premises or an employee should have known of the dangerous surface because a reasonable person taking care of a property would have discovered the problem and fixed it or placed warning signs or barriers.
Furthermore, the victim must show that the accident caused by the owner’s negligence was the cause of the injury, and that the victim suffered actual damages.
Types of negligence
Types of owner negligence that may cause people to be injured when falling of slippery floors might include
- Improper floor maintenance
- Improper cleaning and finishing methods by janitorial staff
- Failure to institute precautions that employees are to take in response to poor weather conditions and spills, or when cleaning or polishing floors
- Failure to place walk-off mats at entrance doors to absorb water that may accumulate during wet weather
- Failure to use barriers and signage to warn of wet or slippery flooring
- Failure to train employees to identify, report, and promptly remedy all slip-and-fall hazards
Any person who has been injured in a slippery floor accident caused by a property owner’s negligence deserves to receive fair and adequate compensation for medical expenses, lost earnings, pain and suffering, disability and disfigurement, or any other losses caused by the fall.
Phoenix, Arizona, slip and fall attorneys help victims recover
If you, or someone in your family, were injured in a slippery floor accident, the Phoenix, Arizona, slip and fall attorneys at Wattel and York have the knowledge, legal expertise, and commitment to justices to fight for your right to a fair and reasonable recovery for your losses. Call today for a free, no-obligation consultation. You pay nothing unless we win!
