People don’t usually worry about what would happen to them while they’re on their way to work or doing routine tasks since they’ve already done them so many times that it’s impossible to count them all. Unfortunately, everyone is at risk of falling victim to slip and fall accidents even if all a person is doing is walking.
Millions of people are sent to emergency rooms because of slip and fall accidents, resulting in having costly medical bills, suffering from pain, and dealing with lost wages. Accidents happen unexpectedly due to various unforeseen reasons, and some of them can even be due to the negligence of another party, primarily when the accident occurred in someone else’s property.
Many accidents occur due to the presence of wet and uneven surfaces. According to the National Floor Safety Institute, around 55% of all slip and fall accidents occur because of hazardous walking surfaces. Since walking comes naturally to everyone, it’s rare for anyone to overthink about how and where they walk.
Most wet and uneven surfaces that cause slip and fall accidents are cluttered floors, loose floorboards, defective sidewalks, potholes, poorly constructed staircases, torn carpets, recently cleaned floors, moisture, and loose mats. Due to these surfaces, it’s not surprising that even walking can sometimes be dangerous.
Slip and fall accidents are also frequent outdoors due to varying weather conditions, especially during the winter. It’s already granted that the weather is usually unpredictable, but this fact doesn’t remove the responsibility from the property owners to keep their traffic areas clean and free of any hazards since failure to do so causes slip and fall accidents for the many people walking around the property.
Even the construction and manufacturing industry sees its share of slip and fall accidents due to improper training on its workforce in the handling of their equipment while walking on slick and narrow pathways. Some workers might also be lacking sufficient protective equipment necessary to keep them safe in the workplace, including the proper footwear.
Nursing homes are also included among the places where slip and fall accidents occur, especially since most of the people there are the elderly. People aged 65 years and above are prone to falling and slipping due to their age and their bodies, but some accidents could have easily been avoided had proper care been present.
It’s already mentioned that slip and fall accidents occur due to various circumstances related to the location where an individual happens to be, but many people could have avoided them if they only wore the right footwear. Some workplaces naturally come with oily or wet surfaces due to the nature of the people’s work. If workers were only issued with the proper footwear and if people used the right shoes for their environment, then the chances of them slipping and falling would have reduced.
When people receive slip and fall injuries in another person’s property due to the owner’s negligence, then they have a chance to hold the other party responsible, but they would still need the services of a Personal Injury Attorney for the case. To know more about the common slip and fall accidents, see this infographic by the Brown Firm.
