Slip, Trip, or Fall Chris Stolmeier
San Antonio Slip and Fall Lawyers
A Slip, Trip, or Fall Can be Prevented
Slip, Trip, or Fall injuries can be serious, and property owners can be held directly responsible for your these injuries. As a result, every property owner has the duty to take reasonable steps to prevent dangerous hazards that may cause a Slip, Trip, or Fall. Any momentary lack of attention can easily lead to a situation in which a dangerous hazard is created or ignored and people can be at risk for serious injury.
Here are some ways property owners can attempt to prevent Slip, Trip, or Falls.
- Maintain Uncluttered Hallways or Aisles
It is important for property owners to keep hallways, walkways, aisles, and other areas that customers may walk. This is an easy strategy to prevent accidents, yet many property owners fail to ensure the property is safe from dangerous clutter. Properties such as grocery stores, big box stores, and even hospitals can be susceptible for Slip, Trip, or Falls as a result of cluttered walkways. Customers at grocery stores or big box stores can suffer severe injuries from an accident because aisles have not been properly cleared of shopping carts, product restockers do not provide enough room to safely navigate around them, product displays are improperly assembled or unsafely extended into the aisle, etc. Similarly, hospital patients can suffer severe injuries from an accident because medical beds, wheelchairs, carts, medical devices, or other medical equipment is unsafely left in hallways.
- Fix Uneven Surfaces
Uneven surfaces are a leading cause of Slip and Falls in the United States every year. Uneven surfaces pose such a great risk to any invitee of a business such as grocery store customers, hospital patients, hotel or resort guests, or nursing home or apartment residents. This risk is so great because an invitee of a business is on the property for a reason unrelated to searching for any uneven surface that may cause an accident. The invitee, to no fault of his or her own, is on the property to buy groceries or other consumer products, to receive medical treatment, relax, reside, etc. An invitee is not expected to nor should they be expected to discover or identify any uneven surface that may lead to a Slip and Fall. Thus, it is up to the property owner and his or her staff to ensure there are no uneven surfaces that can cause an accident. Property owners or staff can safely maintain the property from uneven surfaces by periodically walking the property and fixing any uneven surface or provide a warning to invitees of the presence of an uneven surface. Property owners can use signs or yellow paint to identify an unsafe uneven surface. By providing these warnings, the property owner can limit their liability to personal injury claims.
- Maintain Proper Lighting
Maintaining proper lighting is an easy way property owners can safely maintain their property. Improper lighting may not be an immediate cause of a Slip, Trip, or Fall but improper lighting can be a contributing factor to a Slip, Trip, or Fall. Improper lighting can make dangerous hazards such as slippery surfaces, uneven surfaces, clutter difficult to spot. Additionally, improper lighting can make it difficult for invitees to identify any warning signs a property owner placed. The easiest way to ensure a property has proper lighting is for the property owner or staff to walk inside and outside the property and identify locations that may have poor lighting.
- Use Warning Signs to Identify Dangerous HazardsÂ
Property owners or staff can use warning signs as a way to reasonably warn invitees of potential dangerous hazards. A warning sign can be any signal such as the classic yellow sign, caution tape, a piece of paper, or vibrant paint that will reasonably warn an invitee of a possible dangerous condition. The goal of presenting a warning sign is to is to create a guidance to invitees that the location they are about to enter has a dangerous hazard. If a property owner cannot remedy the dangerous hazard, a warning sign may be the best way to inform invitees of a dangerous hazard and limit the property owner’s liability.
- Clean or Contain Slippery Areas
Property owners are expected to keep their property free from any slippery surfaces that can cause a Slip and Fall. Leaks, recently mopped floors, waxed floors, spilled liquids or products, grease, oil, etc. can cause dangerous slippery surfaces. Property owners and staff can alleviate these dangerous by promptly cleaning the slippery substance or displaying warnings signs to alert invitees of the slippery substance.
- Proper Staff Training
Property owners can help prevent personal injuries by properly training staff on how to identify a dangerous hazard that could cause a Slip, Trip, or Fall as well as how to remedy the dangerous hazard. All new employees should receive a training course and property owners should provide periodic retraining for staff. The more educated your staff is on how to identify and remedy potential Slip and Fall hazards, the less likely these dangerous hazards will result in an accident.
Contact Stolmeier Law, San Antonio Slip and Fall Lawyers
We are San Antonio Slip and Fall lawyers. Stolmeier Law has served Slip, Trip, or Fall victims in San Antonio and South Texas for over 35 years. We have the experience to help you get as much compensation as possible. So if you or a loved one has been seriously injured in a Slip and Fall, contact Stolmeier Law, San Antonio Slip and Fall lawyers. Slip, Trip, or Fall, Call Stolmeier Law.