Top 10 Leading Causes of Slips, Trips and Falls: Who is Liable for Injuries?

Explore the most common causes of slip and fall accidents. Find out if someone else’s negligence means they owe you compensation.

Millions of Americans visit an emergency room every year as a result of slip and fall accidents.¹ Their injuries range from scratches and bruises to broken bones, traumatic brain injuries (TBI), and fatalities.

Most slip or trip and fall accidents are preventable. Government, commercial, and private property owners are responsible for preventing and removing hazards. If they’re aware of a potential danger or should have been aware of one but didn’t act, they’re negligent.

Negligence simply means that a person or entity didn’t act as a reasonable person would, or failed to correct a dangerous condition.

Slip and fall accidents can happen nearly anywhere – a neighbor’s home, a grocery store, a school, or on government properties. Although each slip and fall case is unique, most arise from ten common causes.

1. Weather-Related Falls

Poor weather conditions cause a significant number of slip and fall injuries. Icy or snowy outdoor walkways, parking lots, or moisture tracked into a building result in dangerous conditions.

All property owners have a legal responsibility to minimize the risk of slip and falls, no matter the weather. During wintery weather conditions, they need to take specific actions to prevent falls.

Actions aimed at preventing slips include:

  • Plowing parking areas
  • Shoveling sidewalks
  • Salting walkways and steps
  • Frequent cleaning of entryway floors
  • Using absorbent rugs on entryway floors

If they haven’t taken the proper precautions and someone gets injured, they may face financial responsibility for the fall victim’s damages.

2. Wet Floor Accidents

Wet floors and other slippery surfaces almost always create a risk to a person’s safety.

Wet surfaces are usually the result of:

  • Spilled liquids or foods
  • Melted snow, slush, or ice in entryways and exits
  • Recently cleaned or waxed floors
  • Water in or around bathtubs
  • Leaking roofs
  • Splashing from swimming pools

Property owners must keep their floors clean and dry. They should be aware of the potential for floors to get wet.

If they can’t immediately remedy a wet floor, property owners should warn others about the potential hazard by placing a wet floor sign or cordoning off the slippery surface.

3. Debris on the Floor

Non-liquid debris can also cause someone to slip and fall. If certain substances are on the ground or floor, preventing traction between the surface and the shoe, the risk of injury increases substantially.

Debris that can cause slips and falls include:

  • Food items
  • Kitty litter
  • Dirt or sand
  • Marbles
  • Pine needles
  • Leaves

Property owners should take every precaution to prevent and remove debris that can potentially cause slip and falls. When someone reports debris on the floor, it’s the owner’s responsibility to act within a reasonable amount of time to keep visitors safe.

4. Uneven Walking Surfaces

Uneven or unstable floor surfaces are the basis of many fall incidents. They cause people to trip or result in the inability for a person to hold their footing. Several factors can cause level floor surfaces to become uneven and dangerous.

Injuries from falls on uneven surfaces are typically caused by:

  • Broken and cracked sidewalks
  • Potholes in parking lots
  • Differences in flooring elevation that require even a small step up or down

5. Tripping Hazards

Severe injury accidents often occur because of tripping hazards. Nearly any object on the floor or ground can become a hazard, including chairs and other furniture, although some obstructions are more common than others.

Property owners should be on the lookout for:

  • Ripped, buckled, or loose rugs, mats, and carpets
  • Rugs without non-slip backing
  • Merchandise displays
  • Unsecured electrical cords
  • Uneven paving stones
  • Elevators that open above or below other floors
  • Loose or broken floorboards

6. Falls Down Dangerous Stairs

Stairs are a frequent cause of falls on all property types. Stairs that are older, broken, or lack an anti-slip surface or handrails can all result in an accident. Also, stairs with clutter or poor lighting increase the risk of a fall.

Other fall risks can be present on stairs, such as ripped carpets, debris, snow, or ice.

Escalators present a similar risk for slips and falls.

7. Animals Causing Fall Injuries

Failure to clean up animal urine, vomit, or other waste can cause an unsuspecting person to slip and fall.

The behavior of animals can cause someone to trip or be pushed to the ground. For example, a loose dog could jump up on a visitor and cause them to fall. A neighbor’s cat could walk in front or rub against the leg of someone carrying a load of boxes to their vehicle, causing them to trip.

Depending on who owns or controls the animal and the property where a fall occurs, a victim who sustains an injury under these circumstances might have a valid personal injury claim.

8. Inadequate or Inappropriate Footwear

Footwear is a factor in nearly one-quarter of all slip and fall accidents. While a victim’s use of inadequate footwear doesn’t excuse a property owner’s negligence, it might decrease their claim value.

There’s a reasonable expectation that people will wear the right shoes for the expected activities or conditions.

You might have shared fault for your damages if you wore:

  • High-heeled shoes while there’s ice on the ground
  • Dress shoes with little to no traction to the gym
  • Shoes several sizes too big for your feet to go for a walk
  • Open-toed sandals that can catch on a stair

9. Pedestrian Distractions

Cell phones are one of the biggest culprits when it comes to fall injuries. Nearly everyone has a cell phone, increasing the risk of distracted walking. One study revealed that distracted walking resulted in more than 10,000 serious injuries over a ten-year period.

Besides cell phones, other things such as watching or talking to other people, eating or drinking, daydreaming, or looking through a purse or wallet while walking, can also cause distractions.

If your actions might have contributed to your injuries, you should consider meeting with an attorney about your liability. You can take steps to highlight the at-fault party’s actions and minimize your own.

10. Falls Due to Intoxication

Slip and falls that happen at bars and nightclubs, casinos, and even restaurants often involve injury victims who had been consuming alcohol prior to the incident. The insurance company for the business will almost certainly blame the victim’s injuries on intoxication.

When alcohol is the sole cause for a person’s fall, the victim lacks the basis for a slip and fall claim. In these scenarios, the property owner did nothing to cause the person’s fall, and cannot be held liable. But for the fall victim’s intoxication, the accident would not have happened.

You can still try and hold the owner liable if a hazardous condition played a role in the fall.

For example, a person might fall because of both having too much to drink and an owner’s negligence in not treating an icy walkway. When this occurs, a victim may still be eligible for compensation, but the amount will be reduced per their state’s comparative fault rules.

Who is Liable for a Slip and Fall Accident?

Liability is a legal term meaning responsibility. If another party acted unreasonably or carelessly and caused your slip and fall, they are liable for your damages.

Typically, the property owner is liable for a slip and fall accident. But the injury victim has the burden of proving the owner’s negligence to establish liability.

Property owners are only liable if they knew or should have reasonably known about a condition that could cause a slip and fall. It’s unreasonable to expect that they have an immediate awareness of every fall hazard and the time to fix it.

A property owner is not automatically liable for every injury that happens on their property.

Case Example: Startled Pedestrian Fall Down Stairs

In 2013, Ajanaffy Njewadda fell down the stairs at the Grand Central subway station in New York, injuring her foot and ankle. She fell after seeing an oversized “scary” poster for the popular Showtime series “Dexter.”

Ms. Njewadda claimed that, after seeing the poster, she became fearful, panicked, and lost her balance, causing her to fall to the ground.

She described the poster as “disturbing, provocative, shocking and fear-inducing,” featuring the main character’s face under a plastic wrap with his eyes open.

She alleged that Showtime, CBS, and the NYCTA/MTA intentionally and negligently created a hazardous condition by placing the poster under or on the subway stairs.

In 2015, her attorneys filed a personal injury lawsuit against Showtime, CBS, and NYCTA/MTA for the presence of the visible poster in the stairway.

In January 2019, a judge dismissed the case, saying that Showtime and CBS owed Ms. Njewadda no duty of care. Further, because there was no evidence of a physical hazard on the stairs, she had no cause of action against NYCTA/MTA.

If you can’t provide clear and convincing evidence of the property owner’s liability, their insurance company is unlikely to pay your claim.

Evidence that might be helpful includes:

  • Video surveillance recordings, if available
  • Eyewitness statements
  • Incident reports filed before your slip and fall if the condition was ongoing (e.g. a leaky roof, a broken floor tile, etc.)

Any of these types of proof can potentially reveal when and if a store owner or employee became aware of the danger. If the injured party shows that the store owner or employee was aware of the spill but didn’t act within a reasonable amount of time, they deserve compensation for their injuries.

In other situations, property owners must use common sense. If it’s snowy outside, it’s reasonable to expect that they’ll need to act to keep their floors from becoming wet and hazardous. An employee doesn’t have to see the wet floors or have someone report them. It’s reasonable to expect that employees know that customers will track snow into the building.

Shared Fault for Slip and Fall Injuries

Sometimes fall victims can contribute to their own injuries, and the legal framework of comparative negligence applies. The result is that an injured victim will receive less compensation, even if an owner was liable for their injuries.

Most states have modified rules of comparative negligence. These rules apply when injured parties are partly to blame for causing their accidents and injuries. In these cases, most states say that your injury compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault in causing the accident.

Insurance adjusters will always try to blame injured slip and fall victims whenever possible to decrease the insurance company’s liability.

Workplace Slip and Fall Liability

If you suffer a fall injury on the job, you won’t have to prove liability to collect workers’ compensation benefits. You are entitled to benefits even if you made a mistake that led to your fall.

State workers’ comp rules prohibit the injured employee from suing the employer in most circumstances. However, in cases of extreme negligence, you may have a case.

OSHA has health and safety rules to prevent workplace injuries. If conditions in your work area were in blatant violation of state or federal workplace safety rules, you may have grounds for a lawsuit.

Do You Need an Attorney?

To obtain a fair settlement for trip or slip and fall injuries, you must be able to prove that the property owner is liable. For slip and fall victims with severe injuries, the best way to accomplish this is to hire a reputable slip and fall attorney.

Most injury law firms offer a free consultation to victims. If you decide to hire an attorney after your consultation,  they usually work on a contingency fee basis. With this arrangement, you won’t owe them anything until your case settles.