Your favorite stores in North Miami have a greater obligation than just making sure you enjoy great bargains on your must-have items. All stores, whether they’re grocery stores, clothing shops, bookstores, or your favorite place for antiques or games, have a duty of care to visitors. This means they have a duty to take reasonable steps to keep you safe. If they fail to do this and you’re injured as a result, you may have a legal claim and may be able to pursue compensation for the losses you suffer.
Common Retail Store Injuries in North Miami
No one looking for essentials or a little retail therapy expects to be injured, but each year customers and other visitors to stores suffer many injuries, including:
- Slip and fall and trip and fall injuries
- Falling object injuries
- Assault
- Parking lot accident injuries
- Crushing injuries
- Fractures
- Head trauma
- Spinal cord injuries
- Sprains
- Soft tissue injuries
- Lacerations
- Fatalities
- Preventing North Miami Store Injuries
There are many things stores can do to prevent serious injuries on their premises:
- Hire security guards
- Maintain a strict cleaning schedule
- Clean up spills and dropped items promptly
- Quickly respond to any reports of unsafe conditions
- Do regular walk-throughs to check for hazards
- Use signs to alert customers if there are unsafe conditions which can’t be fixed right away
- Make sure areas are well-lit
- Maintain flooring so it’s even and has good traction
- Use extra caution on wet days, when floors can get slippery
- Limit the number of customers in stores at any one time to ensure safety
- Set up shelving to maintain good lines of sight
- Train employees so they know how to keep the workplace safe for everyone
- Use security systems to prevent dangerous intruders
- Install secure railings on stairs
- Make sure shelving and items on shelving are correctly secured to prevent falling items and shelves
- Avoid overloading shelves, especially top shelves
- Use extra caution when storing, selling, and displaying hazardous materials, including flammable items
What To Do If You’re Injured
If you’re injured in a store, remain calm and alert the store manager and employees. Get the store to call for medical help if you need it. One of the unfortunate things about being injured in a store is that the retailer may take immediate steps to try to limit liability. They may try to suggest you were injured because you weren’t watching where you were going or were being unsafe. In some cases, it may be hard to get in contact with a manager at all.
In the moments after your injury, take photos of the area where your injury occurred, including photos of any unsafe conditions. Get the store to write an incident report and get a copy, if you can. Get the contact information of any potential witnesses.
You will also want to contact Flaxman Law Group at 1-866-352-9626 (1-866-FLAXMAN) for a free accident consultation with a North Miami premises injury claims attorney as soon as you can. Our legal team reviews potential claims with plaintiffs and can address questions you have after your injury.