Slip and Fall Injury - A Closer Look at Property Owners' Responsibilities...

A slip and fall injury can happen anywhere at anytime. While a property owner has the right to expect visitors to be careful and watch out for dangers, visitors have an equal if not greater right to expect a safe environment.


After a slip and fall there are various things you can look for to determine whether or not the property owner was negligent.

Building code violations are a big one and will be looked at closer in the next section. When the slip and fall injury resulted from a code violation your case is almost open and shut and it will be the owner, rather than the landlord, manager or independent business, that you will likely seek damages from.

Now we have already said that in terms of slippery surfaces there is only so much you can expect the property owner to do to protect you. The question is, how much is so much? There are a few loose guidelines to go on...

If the slippery surface was caused by the owner or an employee spilling something then their duty is to clean that spill immediately. There is really no exception here. If the slippery surface was caused by another visitor then the owner’s duty is to clean it up in a reasonable time.

Since the spill should be cleaned as soon as it is discovered, the reasonable time is determined by how long it would take a reasonable person to discover the slippery surface.

If the slip and fall injury happened in a bathroom ten minutes after the spill occurred the owner or business can claim that they're not responsible. Having an employee check in on the bathroom once an hour is generally considered reasonable, so as long as they can prove this happens they won’t likely be considered negligent. Furthermore, a reasonable person would be aware of possible slippery surfaces when going into a bathroom.

All of those slippery surface scenarios would also apply to an object left to be tripped over. For instance, if a product were to fall from the shelf in a retail store the business should clear it as soon as they know about it. In all cases, not just bathrooms, the property owner (or business) has a duty to regularly check that their property is kept safe.

The property owner, no matter if it’s a business or a private residence, is only responsible for what we can call welcome visitors. This means that visitors to the property that weren’t supposed to be there may have a slip and fall injury as a result of negligence but they won’t be able to make a sound insurance claim.

The famous example here is burglars. You have no legal obligation to make sure your home is safe for someone who breaks in. If that person trips on a broken step, slips on a slippery surface or falls over things that were scattered on the floor, it is entirely their own fault.

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