When you take all types of accidents into account you\’ll notice that slip and fall accidents are the most common type of accident experienced by the average person in North America. A slip-and-fall accident is most clearly defined as when your contact with the floor beneath you is broken, causing you to lose your balance and then gravity takes care of the rest. Your reactive instinct is to put your hands or arms out to save yourself from falling, which can then results in additional serious joint injuries.
However if you slip, trip and fall either in public or in a store or business it\’s important to understand that your injury occurred due to the negligence of the person, or persons, managing that store. Basically your injury is due to the negligence of others and you may be entitled to compensation as a result. It is the duty of the store manager to protect customers against accidents, keep you free from danger to life, limb and property, for example.
What we want to cover in this article are the most common causes of slip-and-fall accidents and what you might do to preserve evidence of these for any pending court case or legal action you might be forced to undertake.
Wet Floors
The presence of any liquid on a floor immediately increases your likelihood of slipping and then falling as a result. Any spillage should be clearly marked with a warning sign, although this is rarely the case. There\’s also the possibility that the floor has been professionally cleaned, but to the point where it\’s simply not possible for your feet to gain any traction on it – again resulting in your slipping and falling.
Poor Lighting
If the area you\’re walking through has poor internal or external lighting then it increases your risk of slipping and falling on an uneven or wet surface. It is the responsible of the city or town authorities to provide sufficient street lighting, and the responsibility of all businesses to provide adequate lighting on or near their premises.
Uneven Surfaces
This can cover everything from loose paving or curbing on the street, to uneven surfaces such as floors or even stairs within a store. The fact remains however that these uneven surfaces should have been remedied either by the local authorities, or the store itself, before an accident took place.
Adverse Weather Conditions
Obviously nobody can control the weather but in the case of ice or snow any business can and should make provisions for ensuring that the entrances, exists and pathways leading to and from their building are free of snow and ice.
Floor Clutter
Sometimes it can be something as simple as an item which has fallen off a shelf and is cluttering the floor to be responsible for causing an accident. Again it is the responsibility of the store, and the store manager, to ensure that such clutter simply doesn\’t exist.
If you feel you\’re the victim of a slip-and-fall type of accident then please gather whatever evidence you can, including photographs, and then contact an experienced slip-and-fall lawyer for further advice. Please note that if you don\’t gather evidence immediately after the accident it\’s extremely likely the store will clear away any evidence of your accident once you leave.