No one sees a trip, slip and fall coming. Sometimes, these accidents happen when we overlook simple precautions. At other times, however, they occur when someone else (a property owner or manager) fails to take measures to address hazardous conditions on their property.
A slip-and-fall incident can leave you with a wide range of injuries. While some injuries like bruises may not require specialized care, others can be life-altering. And this explains why you may need to take legal actions against the liable party for damages following a slip-and-fall incident. But how do slip-and-fall injuries happen?
Understanding the causes of slip-and-fall injuries
You will likely fall if you slip on a surface or trip over a hazard that is in your walking path. For instance, a wet and slippery surface can lead to a fall. Here are some of the most common causes of slips and falls:
- Inherently slippery floors
- Excessively wet floors
- Debris on the floor
- Torn carpets
- Uneven surfaces like holes on floors or the sidewalk
Life-altering injuries that you can suffer after a slip-and-fall accident
While slip-and-fall accidents do not make up the majority of fatalities, they can result in severe injuries that can cause major setbacks to your life. Here are some of the catastrophic injuries that you may sustain if you trip, slip and fall:
- Spinal cord injuries
- Hip injuries
- Head and neck injuries
- Broken bones
Fighting for your rights
If you believe your slip-and-fall accident is attributable to someone’s negligence (like failure to notify users of a hazardously slippery floor or failure to fix torn carpets or loose guardrails), then you may sue the individual or entity in question for the resulting economic and non-economic damages.
In this case, you must file your claim within the New York statute of limitations period, which is three years from the date of the slip-and-fall accident in question.