Preventing Slip and Fall Accidents
Preventing Slip and Fall Injuries on Your Brooklyn Property This Winter
Property owners must take care of their premises, especially in the winter, when slip and fall accidents frequently occur. It’s the responsibility of the property owner or tenant to keep conditions safe for visitors. Icy sidewalks and wet floors can wreak havoc on your property and present dangers to your customers or friends. You do not want to be on the wrong end of a premises liability and personal injury lawsuit because someone slipped on ice in Canarsie, Bay Ridge, Park Slope, or Crown Heights.
To try to avoid injuries and potential liability, you must take precautions to prevent or correct dangerous conditions on your property. Some areas that might require extra attention are discussed below.
Ice and Snow Should Be Cleared to Avoid Injuries
In NYC, the Administrative Code requires that “every owner, lessee, tenant, occupant or other person having charge of any lot or building must clean snow and ice from the sidewalks adjacent (i.e., in front of, on the side of, in back of) to their properties.”
Brooklyn, being part of NYC, falls under this provision. Property owners should adhere to the strict hours of cleaning up snow and ice in Manhattan Beach, Rego Park, Sheepshead Bay, Bensonhurst, Flatbush, Midwood. There is a window of time after precipitation ends that clean up must be completed. Failing to clean snow and ice according to code can result in fines.
Sidewalks
Sidewalks are public places that might be maintained by the town or the state in which they are located. Even if a sidewalk is located directly outside the door of your business or home, it is, at times, the legal responsibility of the government to keep it safe from dangerous conditions. At other times, it can be the owner of the property or tenant.
As stated above, if ice and snow are involved; however, it is the property owner’s duty to keep the sidewalk safe.
If a fall occurs in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bushwick, Sunset Park, or Borough Park, on a private walkway, the owner is usually the one held responsible for maintaining its safety.
Parking Lots Must Be Cleared
The owner of a parking lot is responsible for snow and ice removal, as well as the general safety of its conditions. If you have a parking lot, you can take care of maintaining it yourself or contract the work to someone else. You must, however, take precautions to make sure the job is correctly done so people can avoid injury, and you can avoid liability.
Lighting Can Make Conditions More Dangerous
Make sure you have adequate lighting on your property so visitors can see any possible dangers. You might be liable for injuries that result from falling on a poorly lit pathway, parking lot, entrance if you knew it was dark.
Contact The Law Office of Irene H. Gabo, P.C. if You Suffer and Slip and Fall Accident in Brooklyn
Slip and fall accidents in Brooklyn during the winter are inevitable. Someone will slip on an ice patch on the sidewalk. Someone else will trip over a pothole in a parking lot. Hopefully, the injuries will be minor and determined to be genuine accidents. But, many other injuries will result from negligence, the failure to act according to reasonable standards. If a breach of a duty results in injuries, the negligent person may be legally responsible for those injuries.
As a property owner or tenant, you have duties to the people around you to keep your property safe. Make sure you take adequate precautions to avoid injuries and liability.
If you were injured slipping and falling in Brooklyn, the Law Office of Irene H. Gabo, P.C. represents premises liability and personal injury clients in Brooklyn, Flushing, Manhattan Beach, Rego Park, Sheepshead Bay, Bensonhurst, Flatbush, Midwood, Brighton Beach, Gravesend, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bushwick, Sunset Park, Borough Park, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, East New York, Crown Heights, Canarsie, Bay Ridge, and Park Slope.
Call our personal injury lawyers today at (800) 560-0214 for a free evaluation of your slip and fall case.
