Better Floor Traction, Fewer Slip and Fall Injuries

Property owners and managers have added the costs of slip and fall accidents to their anticipated budgets for much too long. Seriously injured employees and customers are just part of the price of doing business, right? Given the increase in personal injury lawsuits, workers compensation cases and the price for medical care, insurance companies and public safety organizations are taking a harder look at this problem and encouraging public facilities to take steps to make their premises safer. Floor traction is an excellent place to start.

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI) have established a new national standard for measuring floor safety. Businesses that get a lot of foot traffic, such as stores, hotels and restaurants, like to install floor surfacing that is durable and easy to clean. The ANSI/NFSI standards rate walkway slip resistance, with high-traction floors offering the least risk and moderate- and low-traction floors a greater risk for a slip and fall accident.

Most people are probably more aware of the dangers of food poisoning than the dangers of losing your footing and taking a fall. According to the Centers for Disease Control, there are more than a million slip and fall accidents annually. These falls are responsible for:

• 17,000 deaths per year
• 15 percent of workers compensation claims
• Serious damage such as traumatic brain injury or spinal cord injury
• $40 billion in accident-related costs

If you have been injured after a slip and fall accident because the property owner failed to maintain safe conditions, consult an experienced Florida personal injury attorney about your options for getting compensation for your accident-related expenses.