Slip and fall accidents happen when people lose their footing. This can occur for a variety of reasons, and we are all vulnerable. Poor maintenance or failure to warn people of hazards creates liability for property owners or managers for the financial damages victims suffer. Their injuries can be severe, including brain damage and paralysis. Soft-tissue injuries and broken bones are also very common and inflict long recovery times. After a bad fall at a public or private location, a personal injury attorney can explain your options for pursuing compensation from the property owner.

1. Uneven Surfaces
Even a half-inch difference between surfaces can catch your toe and send you sprawling. Uneven surfaces can be anywhere, including:

• Broken sidewalks
• Parking lot potholes
• Transitions between different types of flooring
• Torn carpeting
• Bunched up floor mats
• Irregular steps

Once you fall, you can usually spot the place that caught your foot. If possible, you should take a picture of the uneven surface with your phone before leaving the accident scene. A slip and fall attorney will need this evidence to support your claim for damages.

2. Cluttered Walkways
Unboxed merchandise in the aisle of a retail store can create a tripping hazard. Clutter from unpacked boxes, bags of trash, or anything obstructing a walkway can result in a bad accident. Businesses have an obligation to remove obstructions from walkways, and failure to do so could impose responsibility for your injuries.

3. Broken Handrails or Steps
A handrail does not do any good if it’s broken or disconnected from a wall. When you assume that it’s serviceable and put your weight on it, the next thing that you know, you’ve tumbled down steps. People also may not be able to spot broken steps and suffer a nasty fall.

4. Poor Lighting
A path, staircase, or sidewalk might be reasonably safe during the day but becomes menacing after dark. Failure to keep walking surfaces and steps well lit at night drastically raises the risk of injury.

5. Electrical Cords and Hoses
Maintenance and cleaning activities often require getting out equipment that needs extension cords or hoses. People might not notice these lines lying across a floor, especially if the area is usually clear. Just like an uneven surface, a cord or hose can trip you and cause a disastrous accident.

Should this happen to you, be sure to file an accident report with the facility and cite the electrical cord or hose as the cause. These items can be quickly removed. For that reason, you need to take a picture to record a cord’s presence at the time of your accident. Additionally, a slip and fall attorney may send a preservation letter to the property owner requiring that surveillance images remain available as proof of the obstruction’s presence when the person fell.

6. Nursing Home Neglect
The elderly are very vulnerable to falls, and their health conditions can make them weak or unable to understand their surroundings. Inadequate or neglectful staff might leave an older person desperate for water, food, or attention. If a resident wanders and falls, the facility could be responsible for failing to meet the person’s physical needs and prevent harm. The help of a personal injury lawyer could be needed to investigate these issues because nursing homes try to limit access to information.

7. Inadequate On-the-Job Safety Training
Slip and falls are also common in the workplace. An employer may be to blame for a worker’s accident due to inadequate training about fall hazards. This is a particularly common problem in the construction industry. After a workplace fall, you may wish to speak to a slip and fall attorney about your options. A workers’ compensation claim will likely provide compensation, but there may be broader issues of negligence that you want to address legally.

8. Wet Surfaces
A freshly mopped floor is hard to see and very slippery. Large yellow wet floor signs should be used to mark the hazard. Wet surfaces can also arise due to plumbing leaks and spills. A sudden downpour could wash loose soil onto a sidewalk and form slippery mud.

Invitees and Licensees
In most cases, a slip and fall accident claim shows that you were in the area lawfully. Trespassers, in most situations, have limited rights after suffering injuries.

Whether you were in a public or private location, you likely held the legal status of an invitee or licensee. An invitee is a person who enters a place open to the public or is expressly encouraged to enter, and a licensee is a person on a property as a social guest. A personal injury lawyer in Las Vegas could help you understand which category applies to you.

Consult Lach Injury Law Now
A slip and fall accident might feel straightforward to you, and you thought you were in a safe area, and then something terrible happened. However, the responsible party or its insurer may try to deflect the blame and avoid paying for your damages.

In his long career as an accident attorney in Nevada, Darren J. Lach has worked to get maximum compensation for his clients. Contact Lach Injury Law for a free consultation to understand your legal position after a slip, trip and/or fall.