With the holiday season fast approaching and the likely need to buy gifts for loved ones, you may want to get started on your holiday shopping. Whether you enjoy getting out to bustling shops to find the right gift or if you dread crowds and want finish as quickly as possible, you may be unable to avoid going to physical stores, even if you are an avid online shopper.
While getting out and about can be enjoyable, you may also face several safety risks while on the premises of certain businesses. Unfortunately, you could easily fall outside or inside a store due to an owner’s lack of attention to potential hazards.
Possible safety hazards
Because retail store owners and operators have a duty to their employees and patrons to ensure safety, they need to remain on the lookout for any possible hazards and address any risks as soon as possible.
Some actions these individuals should take to ensure your safety include the following:
- Posting wet floor signs
- Addressing weather-related hazards by frequently drying floors when the weather is wet
- Keeping power cords out of walkways and other areas where you may trip over them
- Cleaning up spills soon after they occur
- Ensuring that entryways and walkways are well lit
- Providing mats to dry off your feet
- Ensuring the correct placement of mats and straightening out any folds or wrinkles
- Keeping seasonal displays out of walkway areas
These are not the only actions that store owners and operators can take to better ensure your safety. Still, they have a responsibility to attend to any hazards quickly and efficiently. If they do not, you could wind up slipping and falling over a hazard and suffering serious injuries.
Seeking compensation
If this type of scenario does happen to you, the store owner may immediately offer to cover certain medical expenses because his or her insurance policies will cover the costs. However, this offer may not come or the payout may not be enough to cover all the damages that you suffered. As a result, you may need to take further action to obtain monetary restitution for damages allowable under Alabama state law.
A premises liability claim could help you in this endeavor, and consulting with an attorney could lead to a review of your situation to determine whether you may have a viable case.
