You likely climb and descend the stairs in your own home many times per day. You may also use the stairs in hotels, in school, in the store, in the mall or at work — just to name a few locations. All told, stairs are so common that we tend not to think of the potential dangers at all.
Unfortunately, that mindset can catch up with you. You must be careful. The reality is that 1 million people suffer annual injuries due to falls on the stairs, per Reuters and the American Journal of Emergency Medicine. Some of these injuries are minor. Some are fatal. Many fall in the middle, with the injured parties surviving the fall but ending up with surprisingly severe injuries that require medical treatment.
Looking for hazards around the stairs
A slip and fall accident on the stairs may be caused by a hazard that shouldn’t have existed in the first place. Examples include:
- A ripped carpet at the top of the stairs in a hotel
- A loose rug set at the top of the stairs in a rental unit
- Slippery tiles on stairs in a store or business
- A loose handrail on stairs in a factory or a warehouse
- A stair tread 0that is just slightly higher or lower than those around it, creating a trip hazard
All it takes is the smallest unexpected issue to cause someone to slip or trip and fall. When that happens at the top of the stairs, the resulting fall could be extremely dangerous. If you’re one of the 1 million people who end up with injuries after such an incident this year, you need to know what legal options you have.