Even though many people remain unconcerned about it, accidents resulting from slips and falls can lead to severe injuries that change your life – and they are relatively common. To increase awareness of these potentially devasting circumstances, we would do well to consider where do most slip and fall accidents occur?
6 Common Areas Where Slip And Fall Accidents Happen
When property owners fail to repair dangerous conditions, it could result in a slip and fall accident. According to the National Floor Safety Institute, more than one million visits to the emergency room annually are due to slip and fall accidents. A property owner is responsible for informing people of any dangers or hazards existing on their property. After all, slip and fall injuries have many causes, and they can happen in several locations. Nonetheless, studies show that they occur mainly in the following areas:
Sidewalks
Any gaps in your sidewalk blocks or cracks make the ground uneven and susceptible to slip and fall accidents.
Parking Spaces
If your parking space has holes or cracks in the asphalt, they risk unsuspecting people. For instance, poor lighting is suitable for slip and fall incidences in parking spaces.
Stairs
Poorly maintained stairs wear over time, causing rounded and worn steps, loose and frayed carpeting, and missing or loose handrails that create dangerous conditions. Spilled liquids or debris on the stairs, also create a hazardous space for falls. All of these conditions are made even worse in poor lighting.
Elevators and Escalators
If not appropriately maintained, elevators and escalators can start or stop suddenly, thus making people fall. It is also easy to get your clothes, fingers, shoes, or feet caught on the door of a poorly maintained escalator or elevator, causing a slip and fall injury.
Retail Spaces Like Restaurants, Shopping Malls, and Grocery Stores
Debris lying around, uncleaned spills, and unmarked wet floors cause common slip and fall injuries. Even a clean floor with an uneven application of wax or polish can be dangerous. And, of course, worn-out or torn carpets or even just poorly placed rugs can be a tripping hazard.
Job Sites
Reasons like wet floors, torn carpets, loose handrails, debris, damaged flooring, worn or loose steps can all cause workers to slip and fall on the job site. On certain sites, metal surfaces, scaffolding, and unsafe ladders can also pose safety challenges.
Slip & Fall Injuries Liability
Some of the common slip and fall injuries you can experience are brain or head injuries, broken bones, neck and spine injuries, and in worst-case scenarios, death. You can be entitled to compensation if you experience a slip and fall injury. The key is to prove the property owner knew of the risk but remained negligent. For instance, the property owner is considered liable for your injuries by failing to warn you about a wet floor.
Colorado Slip & Fall Laws
As is true in any state, if you have a slip and fall accident where it's apparent that the property owner's negligence contributed to your accident, it's normally a good idea to at least check into your options for receiving compensation for any losses you incur.
You need to be aware that Colorado has a few laws and legal rules that could affect your case. The most relevant to most people is the statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit and the rules concerning "shared fault".
Statute of Limitations
In Colorado, you have just two years from the date of the slip and fall accident to file an injury claim against the property owner you believe to be at fault. The only exception is if the victim dies as a result of the injuries sustained in the slip and fall. Then the family may decide to pursue a wrongful death claim. In that case, the deadline remains at two years, but that time frame begins on the date of the victim's death instead of the date of the accident itself.
Shared Fault
The actual legal term is "Contributory Negligence". In layman's terms, if it is determined that you are partly to blame for your accident, any compensation you receive will be reduced by a percentage equal to the fault assigned to you. As an example, if you are found to be 30% at fault, and you have damages of $10,000, you'll only get $7000.
But . . . there's more. (And you're probably not going to like it.) Colorado's law has an additional caveat that could mean you receive nothing. If your contributory negligence as described above is found to be 50% or more, you will lose your case.
Any slip and fall case in Colorado can be complex on many levels. The advice of an experienced Personal Injury Attorney is always recommended.