Premises
Liability
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Someone can experience a wide array of injuries on another party’s property. A premises liability accident can lead to fractures, brain injuries, back injuries, spinal cord injuries, and many more potentially severe, sometimes fatal, injuries. Even though many different scenarios might cause a premises liability accident, some events occur more frequently than others. These more common events include:

Slips, Trips, and Falls

Slip and fall accidents and trip and fall accidents are the most common types of premises liability accidents. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that one in five falls result in severe injuries, like broken bones or brain injuries. Falls are also the number one cause of hip fractures in older adults.

The CDC also reports that approximately 3 million individuals visit emergency departments each year for fall-related injuries. This includes about 800,000 who have to stay in the hospital for one or more days. Many different hazards or conditions can cause someone to slip and fall or trip and fall, including:

• Old, run-down buildings that have rotted, worn, or loose stairs, rails, and wood or tile flooring
• Falling debris from construction sites
• Uncleared debris in parking lots, driveways, and storefronts, and on sidewalks
• Wet product spills or use, such as floor cleaners, water, wax, oil, ice, and food
• Dry product spills or use, such as powders, granules, grains, sand, sawdust, and soil
• Uneven and unkempt sidewalks and trails

Escalator and Elevator Accidents

The technology that has given us elevators and escalators has provided a convenience that most of us take advantage of in office buildings, airports, shopping malls, hotels, and other large structures. These machines allow us to move quickly from one place to another without having to climb flights of stairs. Additionally, those with physical limitations can use escalators and elevators to navigate large buildings that they otherwise might not have visited. However, visitors who use this infrastructure can suffer injuries when property owners don’t properly maintain escalators, elevators, and moving walkways.

Some mechanical failures with escalators and elevators that can lead to injuries include:

• Poor installation, which can include missing or loose parts
• Escalators that suddenly stop
• Elevators that suddenly drop
• Irregular maintenance
• Failure to inspect machinery for common mechanical issues
• Malfunctioning elevator doors
• Uneven or wrong elevator landings
• Side-step entrapments on escalators and moving walkways, which are especially dangerous for children

Swimming Pool Accidents

Kentucky’s warm summer climate makes taking a dip in a private or public pool a frequent event on hot days. Swimming not only provides relief from the hot weather, but it also serves as a great activity for kids and adults alike. Pool owners who don’t properly maintain their pool put users at risk for accident and injury.

According to the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC), the federal agency tasked with warning consumers about dangerous products, almost 150 children age 14 and below drown every summer between Memorial Day and Labor Day. This tragic statistic does not include adults who drown or swimming pool accidents that don’t lead to death. A swimming pool accident can occur at someone’s home, a hotel, a community pool, or a water theme park.

Some unsafe conditions and negligent pool owner behaviors, which can cause severe accidents and injuries, include:

• Failure to inspect all aspects and areas of a pool, such as steps, ladders, handrails, filters, pumps, slides, and diving boards
• Concrete and tiles that are extra slippery because they haven’t been cleaned or maintained properly
• Cracked tiles and concrete that create dangerous, uneven walking areas
• Overcrowding of a pool, which makes it more difficult to monitor swimmers in distress
• Failure to construct a fence or other barrier to keep small children out of the pool area
• Lack of adult supervision or failure to provide a lifeguard

Insufficient Building Security

Property owners also have a legal obligation to protect visitors from suffering harm by third parties. This type of protection usually comes in the form of building or property security. The notion of security is broad, highly subjective, and can include a variety of actions depending on the specific property, its location, and potential threats to visitors or tenants.

Some apartment communities or office buildings might have restricted access that requires a passcode, a key, a key card, or some other technology. In other cases, maintaining security on a property might include the installation and maintenance of lighting in outdoor spaces and common spaces, or enclosing a property with a security gate. If a visitor or tenant gets attacked, assaulted, raped, stabbed, or shot, the property owner might share liability with the perpetrator.

Fires

Several different hazardous conditions, chemicals, and other substances can lead to a dangerous fire or explosion. Examples include electrical shorts, lit cigarettes, and flammable substances. A Kentucky court might find the property owner liable if a visitor suffers burns or other injuries after a fire or explosion is caused by the owner’s negligence. Burns are among the most expensive injuries to treat. Those who suffer severe burns often need one or more surgeries to repair burned areas of the body.

Additionally, severe burns might cause doctors to put a burn victim in a medical coma to spare him or her the excruciating pain of healing. Burn victims typically spend weeks, months, and sometimes years recovering from their burn injuries. Even after cosmetic surgery and a lengthy recovery, burn victims face permanent scars. Fortunately, fires don’t occur as often as other types of premises liability accidents, but when they do occur, fires can cause life-changing injuries.

Dog Bites

According to the Insurance Information Institute, insurance companies paid out more than $600 million in claims related to dog bites in 2018, and the CDC estimates that approximately 4.5 million people suffer dog bites each year. Dog bites are a distinct type of premises liability accident that doesn’t conform to the average situation. You can suffer a dog bite on your own property or somewhere else, and the dog owner might not be present at his or her property when a bite occurs.

For example, a dog might bite someone at a public park or on a city sidewalk. In any case, dog bite claims typically fall under homeowners’ insurance policies, the same as if a visitor gets injured while at someone’s home. Dog bites can cause permanent scars, infection, and tremendous emotional trauma, especially in young children, who are most at risk.