You don't see slip and fall accidents coming, but they can cause severe injuries.

It is well understood that falling from any significant height can result in injury. As a result, property owners, employers, and government agencies tend to take proactive steps to minimize the risk that individuals will suffer a fall from several inches to several feet off of the ground. Yet, less attention is paid to the kinds of injurious fall scenarios that occur with much greater frequency: same-level falls.

Same-level falls usually occur due to slip-and-fall or trip-and-fall risks. Challenges ranging from slippery substances on a retailer’s floor to uneven pavement in a parking lot can inspire bruising, broken bones, and even head trauma caused by same-level falls.

As a result of how common and how consequential same-level falls can be, it is generally a good idea for both residential and commercial property owners to fall-proof their property. Fall-proofing involves intentionally minimizing the risk of falls on one’s property. When property owners fail to engage in fall proofing, they could potentially be held liable for any harm that results if a visitor, a guest, or potentially even a trespasser slips or trips, falls, and is injured as a result of a preventable hazard.

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020 and as it raged throughout 2021 and into 2022, hospitals were overrun with patients requiring urgent care. As the pandemic began to stabilize, hospitals were overrun with patients who needed medical treatment that had been put on the back burner for weeks, months, or even years so that healthcare providers could focus their limited resources on those who had particularly time-sensitive needs. Partially as a result of this imbalanced dynamic, it has been confirmed that more patients suffered harm during these chaotic years than in years past.

The question of whether this spike in patient harm – including a particularly notable uptick in patient falls resulting in injuries – has returned to pre-pandemic levels or whether it remains a particularly pressing concern.

Fall and Sentinel Event Rates Have Spiked

The Joint Commission is a non-profit organization that accredits healthcare facilities based on their approach to safe, effective patient care. In its latest report, The Joint Commission confirms that patient fall rates spiked last year, while sentinel event rates rose dramatically over the course of the pandemic. As defined by The Joint Commission, a sentinel event is “a patient safety event that results in death, permanent harm or severe temporary harm.”

Millions of Americans suffer harm that is severe enough to require urgent medical care in the U.S. every year. As a result, if you have recently been injured after slipping and falling while you were shopping, you are certainly not alone.

Depending on the nature of your injuries and their severity, you may be facing significant medical bills, a lengthy period of rehabilitation, and you may even be missing time away from work while you heal. As a result of the fact that slip-and-fall injuries can be genuinely costly, it is important to seek legal guidance in the wake of your injurious fall. By doing so, you will be able to clarify whether you have cause to file legal action against the establishment where you were shopping and/or any third-party owners or managers of the retail property where you fell.

When Are Slip-and-Fall Injuries Legally Actionable?

Generally speaking, slip-and-fall injuries provide grounds upon which an injury victim can seek compensation if a property owner either knew – or should have known – about a hazardous condition on their property and failed to adequately mitigate the risk that someone would suffer harm as a result of this condition.

Springtime in Illinois is more than a little magical. Not only does the world bloom before one’s very eyes, individuals who have long been stuck indoors start to venture out again. Although everyone perceives the burdens of winter to some degree or another, individuals who have limited mobility or who otherwise cannot easily travel on snow and ice tend to feel the brunt of the winter months more than most. As a result, these individuals tend to be particularly eager to get out in the spring. However, they need to take certain precautions to avoid slip-and-fall injuries when they do.

Slip and Fall Accidents Can Happen When Property Owners Are Negligent

Most people are cognizant of winter slip-and-fall hazards. However, less attention is given to the kinds of conditions that pedestrians and other non-motorized travelers encounter when moving from here to there in the springtime.

As a result, it is important when traveling by foot to regularly return your gaze to the ground in front of you. Otherwise, you may not notice that the sidewalk is cracked, that rain or runoff has started to turn to ice as the temperature drops (yet again) to freezing, or that tree roots and other plant-based life that has not been addressed since the autumn is creating a slipping hazard in your path. Additionally, you will want to take particular care when entering a building, as moisture and mud tracked in by others’ shoes could make surfaces unusually slippery.