Slip and fall accidents are very disruptive for a business. Whether the injured party is an employee or customer, slip and falls can cost a business money and downtime to take care of the injury and remedy the problem. In many cases, prevention is a much more economical — and moral — approach to doing business. Here are five facts about slip and fall accidents and how commercial floor coatings can help prevent them:
Responsibility for slip and fall injuries that occur in a business depends on who was in control of those premises. For example, if an injury occurs in a common area, such as a stairway, hallway, or entry, the landlord of the establishment may be responsible. This means that commercial landlords may wish to consider commercial floor coatings in common areas where they may be responsible for slip and fall injuries.
This also pertains to the leased area if it is in a hazardous condition. If the landlord fails to warn the tenant or remedy the situation after becoming aware of the hazardous condition, the landlord may be held responsible. Thus, when a landlord becomes aware the problem, the landlord may wish to consider commercial floor coatings to reduce risk. This could happen if there’s a hole in the floor or something as simple as condensation or a roof leak in a public area.
Injured employees can cost a business money. In fact, employee slip and fall accidents cost businesses about $70 billion annually in compensation and medical costs alone. Additionally, while most on the job injuries are covered by workers compensation without regard to fault, workers compensation claims can result in an increase to the employer’s workers compensation insurance premium.
Moreover, an injured worker means a loss of productivity within your company. You might even have to hire a temporary position and still pay the medical costs for your injured employee. These costs can add up. By waiting until after an accident has occurred, the cost of any remedial measures would be added on to all the other costs. Rather than taking remedial measures after an accident, business owners may wish to consider commercial floor coatings and other safety measures, like signs, as a preventative measure.
Every business owner has heard horror stories that come from slip and fall accidents. When customers are invited into the public areas of a business, the business is responsible for ensuring that your guests are reasonably safe. If it isn’t, your guest may have the right to file a negligence claim.
A negligence claim requires an injured customer to establish that the business was responsible for the hazardous condition and the hazardous condition caused the customer’s injury. In the event that the business is found to be responsible for the injury, the business or the business’s insurance could be responsible for paying the customer’s medical bills, lost wages, and other damages connected to the injury.
To prove a business is responsible for a hazardous condition, an injured customer must show that the business failed to act reasonably under the circumstances. This might include a failure to inspect the premises, a failure to remedy a hazardous condition in a reasonable time, or a failure to warn customers of a hazardous condition. However, the term “reasonable” is not easily defined and can vary from situation to situation. This often depends on a jury’s interpretation of “reasonableness” by a judge. Rather than leaving their fates to a jury, businesses may wish to consider commercial floor coatings to reduce the chance that injuries even occur in the first place.
Strange circumstances can give rise to negligence lawsuits. What happens if a hazardous condition is caused by another customer? What happens if a hazardous condition occurs as a result of a combination of factors, such as a spill plus a burned out light bulb? Unfortunately, no one can answer these questions with certainty. However, an ounce of prevention, such as the use of non-slip commercial floor coatings, can be worth more than a pound of cure after the accident happens and a lawsuit has been filed.
When you want to invest in commercial floor coatings, rely on the experience of Collins Concrete Flooring to get the job done right.