Liabilities caused by accidents on someone else’s premises are subject to compensation by the owners and managers. The law governing this compensation varies from state to state. Some states may reject laws regarding premises liabilities that are lawful in other states. Victims of premises accidents need to be protected by personal injury attorney Tampa from the lawsuits related to the matter. The injury in question must be personal for it to be covered in the premises liability category.
Several organizations and firms such as Winters & Yonker are keen to help people prevent premises accidents. You deserve to get a settlement of your case with all the pain and suffering that may have resulted from an injury that you received on someone else’s premises.
Some of the claims that a personal injury attorney Tampa deals with cover insufficient security at the premises, failing to maintain railings, failure to maintain a porch, deck or stairs, poor lighting and slipping on a wet surface that was known to the property employees, manager or owner. However, it is expected that people protect themselves when they enter into any premises through common sense practices. Some accidents are caused by people who are not watchful. Contact personal injury attorney Tampa for a qualified representation.
Personal injury attorney Tampa can protect you in a premises liability case. The following are some of the ways in which you can protect your premises against personal injury lawsuits.
1. Inspection of the premises
Protection is always better than cure. You need to have a routine that you and your employees follow to inspect the premises. Inspection helps you to discover any dangerous condition within the premises. The exercise may consume some productive time but saves you and the whole businesses time and resources that could be wasted in courts.
2. Find correction for unsafe conditions
After you conduct your routine inspection, you may find that some conditions require correction. Ensure that you correct the hazardous conditions with immediate effect. Correction should be taken as soon as the condition is suspected or discovered. Train your employees not to assume that another employee will discover, suspect or correct dangerous conditions that they meet during an inspection. It is also important to task specific persons with the duty of discovering and implementing such tasks within the premises. Assigning responsibilities reduces chances of confusion and assumption.
3. Preventive measures
It is essential to come up with clear and precise strategies and procedures that should be followed in case of an occurrence. Your employees should always be aware of the step taken in correcting an unsafe situation. Therefore, training is paramount to ensure that all the employees have the same information regarding the set procedures. It may be expensive to train them, but it is worthwhile.
4. Ensuring warning is posed to patrons
In a case where you are not able to fix a hazard immediately, ensure that you set up a sign that keeps people away from the area until it corrected. You can set up a display board indicating that the floor is wet when there is ice, snow or even rainwater on that floor. By displaying such a sign, people walk on the floor with the knowledge that the floor is wet hence they become watchful. Food spills, soapy water, unmaintained stairs, and foreign objects that obstruct walk paths can easily cause accidents and injuries on your premises. It is your responsibility as the premises owner to prevent people from falling on the floors.
5. Ensure your premises with the right insurance coverage
It is not possible to prevent all accidents. Some accidents have no prevention measures. Therefore, you need to protect your premises against such situations to avoid unnecessary expenses when they occur. Proper insurance covers your property should anyone file a lawsuit or a liability claim. There are various types of insurance covers that you enroll to protect your premises. Businesses that invite people such as customers, delivery people, vendors, visitors or clients at their doorsteps requires a general liability insurance coverage.
Liability claims may attract compensation for lost wages, suffering, pain or medical bills to the persons that suffered the effect. General liability insurance can protect your business from these compensations. It is also capable of providing coverage for the cost you incur when defending these claims.
A business that is not insured will be forced to compensate the filed claims with its own money. Some claims are very dangerous and may be entitled to compensation of large sums of money. Liability claims can even bankrupt a business. It is always wise to have insurance cover against dangerous conditions that can cause claims especially the ones that you cannot protect against. Therefore, owners of businesses should never assume any hazardous condition within their premises. Things should always be in the right manner, and a warning should be given when the correction has not been put in place.
