If you have been injured in a stairway slip and fall accident, you have a legal right to seek compensation for your injuries (and any other damage). In Charles County, Maryland, property owners have an obligation to keep their property in a reasonably safe and hazard-free condition. If they fail to do so and a person is injured because of that failure, then property owners — premises owners — are legally liable to pay full and complete compensation.

If you have been injured, call the experienced Maryland personal injury lawyers at the Law Office of Robert Castro. We can discuss your case and injuries, help you, and give you legal guidance on how to proceed. Note that most slip and fall accidents begin with claims made to the respective property/hazard insurance companies. Call us at (301) 870-1200 or use our contact page. We are Charles County and Southern Maryland personal injury lawyers with offices in Waldorf, Maryland.

When seeking full and complete recovery for injuries from stairway slip and fall accidents, it must be shown that the stairs were unsafe or hazardous in some manner. In determining this, there are five key factors that are commonly evaluated.

Lighting

Lighting is a key factor in evaluating whether a set of stairs or a stairwell was safe at the time of the accident. Obviously, a dark and/or unlit stairway is more dangerous than a well-lit staircase. Lighting, of course, allows the person using the step to see the steps themselves and other potential hazards. Property owners have an obligation to keep stairs reasonably well-lit.

Liquids or Other Slippery Substances on the Steps

Many stairway accidents occur because there is water, liquid, or some other slippery substance on the steps. This is common after a snow or when it is raining. Property owners have an obligation to keep steps reasonably dry and clear from substances that might make the steps treacherous.

Obstructions

In a similar manner, property owners must keep stairs clean and free from obstructions like trash, boxes, and other items that might accumulate. Any obstruction of that sort — even something as small as a candybar wrapper — can contribute to an accident. Property owners do not, of course, have an obligation to clean stairs and floors obsessively. However, keeping stairs reasonably clean and free from obstructions is required.

Handrails and Other Safety Measures

Property owners must also ensure proper handrails and other safety measures. In addition to handrails, other safety measures might include striping the steps and/or adding “roughing” tiles or tape to the edges of the steps (to make them even less slippery).

In this category are also safety measures like safety/warning cones when a hazard is discovered and warning signs.

Proper Construction of Steps

A final key factor to evaluate is whether the stairs were properly built/constructed. Typically, this means that the steps and the risers should be uniform in height and depth. Often that means 7-inch risers and steps that are 8 to 11 inches deep. However, the exact measurements are less important than uniformity since our brains and bodies are sort of “trained” by experience to expect uniformity. When we come across a LACK of uniformity coming down a set of stairs, that can cause a stumble, which can lead to a fall and injury.

Contact Waldorf, MD Personal Injury Attorney Robert Castro Today

This article has been provided by the Law Office of Robert Castro. For more information or questions, contact our office to speak to an experienced Maryland personal injury lawyer at (301) 870-1200. We are Waldorf, MD, Personal Injury lawyers. Our address is 2670 Crain Highway, Waldorf, MD 20601.