What Are the 10 Common Sources of Slips, Trips, and Falls?

Personal injury law encompasses several practices, including car accidents, defective products, and medical malpractice cases. Although these three types of personal injury practices receive the most publicity, another type of personal injury incident represents the most common type of accident that can cause one or more injuries. You do not read much about slip and fall accidents at online news sites or on evening news programs, but slip and fall incidents happen to just about everyone at some point in their lives. 

How serious are slip and fall accidents? According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), slip and fall accidents account for around 15 percent of all accidental deaths that are recorded in the United States each year. Only car accidents account for more accidental deaths. The National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI) released a study that showed slip and fall accidents comprise more than one million emergency room visits each year. Although slip and fall accidents often result in nothing more than a few bumps and bruises, falling to the floor hard can produce severe injuries that require immediate medical care.

If you are a victim of a slip and fall incident and you believe the venue where you sustained your injuries committed one or more acts of negligence, you should speak with an experienced personal injury attorney who specializes in handling slip and fall cases. An experienced lawyer determines the source of the slip and fall, as well as whether the venue where you sustained your injuries should assume legal liability for causing you harm. Your attorney conducts a comprehensive investigation that includes gathering physical evidence and interviewing witnesses. The most important role filled by an experienced personal injury attorney is helping you get the compensation that you deserve.

Since 1988, Morgan and Morgan has represented clients that sought justice for sustaining injuries as a result of the negligence committed by another party. During our more than 35 years of providing highly-rated legal services, our team of personal injury lawyers has recovered more than $20 billion in monetary damages. A significant percentage of the compensation recovered for our clients came from favorable decisions issued for slip and fall cases. Learn more about how we can help you recover financial losses by scheduling a free case evaluation with a Morgan and Morgan attorney who specializes in litigating cases involving slip and fall accidents.

What Are the Most Common Sources of Slip and Fall Accidents?

When you meet with a Morgan and Morgan personal injury attorney for a free case evaluation, one of the first items on the agenda is to discover what caused you to slip and fall. After more than 35 years of providing legal support, the personal injury lawyers at Morgan and Morgan have discovered 10 common causes of slips, trips, and falls.

Beverage Stations

Beverage stations located at convenience stores and inside restaurants cause a substantial number of slip and fall accidents. Customers that fill their own drinks often leave behind a trail of soda, water, or some other type of fountain beverage. Just a few customers failing to fill their cups properly can leave behind enough moisture that eventually forms a small puddle and thus, creates a safety hazard. At restaurants, beverage spills contribute to the high incidence of slip and fall accidents.

Ice Bins

Restaurants are especially prone to reporting slip and fall accidents for both customers and employees. The number one culprit of slip and fall incidents at restaurants is the ice bins located throughout a facility. Servers, bussers, and bartenders fill cups and glasses full of ice at different points in both the back and front of the house. From leaks to ice that falls to the floor, ice bins can quickly turn a dry floor into a dangerous floor.

Broken Bottles

Both convenience and grocery stores provide customers with an easy way to grab beverages from refrigerated units. However, the self-service option for acquiring beverages also poses a significant safety risk. Bottles that shatter on the floor leave behind a trail of moisture that instantly creates a safety hazard. Some customers do not report broken beverage bottles, which means that the area where a bottle breaks may not receive prompt attention from the staff.

Ice/Snow

If you live in a cold weather climate, you understand the perils that ice and snow present for mobility. You have to slow your pace and pay special attention to where you walk. Businesses are responsible for clearing ice and snow from entrances and sidewalks leading up to their venues. Failing to remove ice and snow can lead to slippery patches that can cause a serious slip and fall incident. In addition to frozen precipitation, melted ice and snow accumulates water, which typically is found at the entrance of a business.

Public Restrooms

Public restrooms represent a common source of slip and fall accidents. Even if attendants keep up with cleaning public restrooms, an overflowing toilet or a leaky pipe at a handwashing station can produce a large puddle of water that poses a huge safety risk for customers and visitors. Large venues such as arenas, stadiums, and parking malls report a high number of slip and fall accidents in public restrooms. Maintenance workers have a difficult time keeping up with “wet floor” calls.

Swimming Pools

Whether it is a swimming pool operated by a private owner or a municipal government, the management team of any swimming pool is legally liable for any slip and fall injuries. Although certain behavior by members and visitors contributes to the high rate of slip personal injuries at swimming pools, the failure to maintain dry surfaces for foot traffic plays a role in determining the rate of slip and fall accidents at swimming pools.

Loose Tiles/Carpeting

Not every slip and fall accident is caused by someone slipping on a wet floor. The personal injury attorneys at Morgan and Morgan also represent clients that have sustained injuries caused by trip and fall accidents. One of the most common sources of trip and fall accidents is loose tiles and carpeting. This is particularly true at airports where bunched carpeting presents a hazard for passengers that move quickly through concourses. Loose tiles are a common problem at convenience and grocery stores.

Unsecured Electrical Cords

Businesses owe vendors and customers a duty of care to secure all electrical cords. The most effective way to secure electrical cords involves applying some type of industrial-grade tape. A loose electrical cord is a problem not only because it is large enough to force an adult to the floor after tripping over it, but also because our sightlines are usually straight ahead, not down on the floor where a loose electrical cord awaits its next victim.

Clutter

Walk into a grocery store, and you should expect to see stockers throughout the facility replenishing products. Although they are responsible for removing clutter in a timely manner, the fact remains many of the aisles contain empty boxes and other forms of clutter. Tripping over clutter can lead to a fall that produces serious injuries. Clutter is also an issue at convenience and home improvement stores.

Poor Lighting

Poor lighting contributes to slip and fall accidents even if there is not another factor involved that causes someone harm. Lack of illumination can lead to slipping on a puddle of water that the victim would have seen if there was adequate lighting. Poor lighting also can lead to a trip and fall because the victim did not see clutter on the floor.

How Should Our Clients Handle Slip and Fall Accidents?

To file a successful insurance claim and a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages, you should follow a series of steps that unfold after slip and fall accidents.

Get Treated for Your Injuries

If you sustained severe injuries, this should be the first step completed after a slip and fall incident. Even if you feel healthy enough to remain at the scene of a slip and fall incident, you should eventually receive medical care to determine whether you sustained one or more injuries that develop delayed symptoms. To receive compensation for recovering financial losses, you must submit copies of medical bills and records that demonstrate the extent of your injuries.

Notify Management

An incident report filed by a manager or the owner of the venue where you slipped and fell is one of the most important documents reviewed by your personal injury attorney. You must notify a manager about the slip and fall incident and if you have to leave immediately to take care of one or more injuries, an employee should inform a manager about what happened before, during, and after you slipped and fell. An incident report contains vital information such as the time of the accident, as well as the cause of your injuries.

Contact a Slip and Fall Lawyer From Morgan and Morgan

Filing an insurance claim without the legal support of a state-licensed personal injury attorney decreases the likelihood of getting your claim approved by an insurance company. Insurance companies are notorious for taking advantage of policyholders that do not file a claim with the support of an experienced personal injury lawyer. If you do not retain one of the highly-rated personal injury lawyers at Morgan and Morgan, the insurance company you deal with might deny a valid claim or approve a claim valued well below what you deserve for compensation.

Collect Physical Evidence

Retaining one of the accomplished slip and fall attorneys from Morgan and Morgan helps you gather and organize the physical evidence you need to file a persuasive insurance claim, as well as a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages. Your attorney analyzes the photographs shot of the accident scene and reviews the footage obtained from the venue’s security camera system. Interviewing witnesses provides support for the physical evidence acquired after the slip and fall accident. Copies of medical bills and records provide the evidence required to show how much money you have lost because of your injuries.

Take Action by Contacting Morgan and Morgan

You have a limited amount of time to take legal action against a venue where you sustained one or more injuries as a result of a slip and fall incident. Act with a sense of urgency today by scheduling a free case evaluation with one of the personal injury attorneys from Morgan and Morgan who specializes in handling cases that involve slip and fall accidents.