Did you know that, if you’ve been injured in the workplace, you may have legal grounds to sue? Employers have an obligation to provide a safe workplace and proper training for workers. When they do not, they may open themselves up to being sued for liability. These lawsuits may be able to help you recover the costs of your injuries in regards to medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering and more. To get help with one of these claims, however, you need to make sure you’re using the right lawyer.

Knowing the Stats

OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, compiles detailed statistics on workplace injuries. The common causes of these injuries will likely not surprise anyone who’s worked a dangerous job. They tend to occur in situations where there’s a bad tendency on the part of employers to cut corners and where the work itself is already quite dangerous.

Slip and fall injuries are likely more dangerous and more common than you think. In the workplace, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found that 15% of all injuries are related to a slip and fall. This isn’t too surprising. More than 17,000 people will lose their lives every year because of a slip and fall injury. This shocking number could be avoided if some premise owners were more careful about the situations that they set up simply because of the way that they maintain the premises for which they are responsible.

Where Do They Occur

As is already stated by the statistics, slip and fall injuries are particularly prevalent in people’s workplaces. This can happen for a multitude of different reasons.

Slip and fall injuries are very common reasons behind premise liability lawsuits. A recent case filed in West Virginia alleges that a woman took a spill in a restroom at a fast food restaurant and suffered medical costs and other hardships as a result.

Because people tend not to understand the severity of the injures that people oftentimes sustain as results of slip and fall injuries, it’s sometimes easy to dismiss these claims as frivolous. This is not at all the case, as this lawsuit illustrates.

Slip and fall injuries are likely more dangerous than you think. In fact, CDC figures reveal that more than 17,000 people lose their lives every year because of a slip and fall injury. These injuries are also associated with serious injuries, including broken bones, broken backs and, in the worst cases, even death.

You may have heard a term that's recently become very prevalent in the media, traumatic brain injuries (TBI). TBIs are most associated with veterans returning from the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, but they happen at home, too, and they happen quite a lot in conjunction with slip and fall injuries. In slip and fall injuries, TBIs are the actual causes of death of more than 40% of the falls that take the lives of the elderly.

As you can see, taking a spill in a restaurant, retail store or other commercial location is oftentimes a legitimate reason to sue. When the owners of such an establishment fail to properly safeguard their customers against harm, the consequences can be severe, even deadly.

A student fell from a fourth floor window at Bowling Green State University, triggering an investigation. The incident occurred last year, when the dormitory had just been opened. The dormitory is a five floor building, and the fall took place around three o'clock in the afternoon, according to reports by Fox Toledo.

The student was listed in good condition when he was brought to the hospital. This particular building, according to the reporting, has two section windows. Students are able to open up the smaller section of the window to get air into the dormitory.

Premise liability law covers incidents when individuals are injured on private property or commercial property. There can sometimes be some very real personal conflicts that arise over cases involving premise liability. This is particularly the case when the incident involves an injury at somebody's home and when that injury ended up costing the person who was the victim of it a great deal of money.

Getting premise liability legal help from a qualified attorney is an absolute necessity if you believe that you have a premise liability claim on your hands. They can consult with you – generally for free – to determine whether or not it's worth it for you to file a lawsuit. Here are some of the basic facts that should give you some incentive to speak with an attorney.

Was there Negligence?

A property owner who has committed some sort of a negligent act and caused someone to come to harm may end up being sued for premise liability. Negligent acts oftentimes include not maintaining a property properly or up to code. For instance, if you were invited to use a staircase that was not provided with a handrail, that was not cleared of ice or other obstructions or that was uneven and inherently dangerous and you came to harm because of it, you may have a good claim on your hands.

A recent slip and fall injury case in Hawaii has paid the largest ever jury verdict in history for that state. The woman who was injured in a slip and fall accident in a fast food restaurant ended up receiving $5.67 million. She suffered a disabling spinal injury after she fell, and such injuries are all too common in these cases.

Why Are they Dangerous?

You've probably heard that people can die falling from their own height. This, even though it sounds like something of an urban legend, is precisely true. If you fall on a hard surface and strike your head or other vital areas of your body, you can easily be seriously injured or die. Slip and fall accidents can be extremely dangerous in certain establishments.

According to a report by the Insurance Journal, the cost of dog bite claims has risen over 53 percent between 2003 and 2011. Legal settlements, jury awards and medical bills all play into this. If you have a dog, it's important that you make certain that you're responsible. If you're bitten by a dog on somebody's property, or your own, you may want to contact an attorney about the matter, since the medical and other expenses associated with these injuries can be very high.

Coverage

If you're a dog owner, you can get insurance to protect you in the event of a lawsuit. Some policies will have umbrella coverage that will cover somebody if your dog bites them on your property. You may want to look into other types of coverage, as well, to make certain that you don't end up looking at a lawsuit because your dog got out of control.

If you are bitten, talking to an attorney is highly advisable.

According to a report in Daily Finance, amusement parks have been doing quite well over the year. In fact, the report says that Six Flags is expected to have an 8 percent increase in revenue this year. The increasing profitability of amusement parks does bring up some questions, however. Some of the rides at amusement parks can be very dangerous if they're not properly maintained and if safety regulations are not followed closely.

Premises liability can be described in two useful ways for people who are not lawyers. First, it encompasses the law that describes how a landowner or property owner is responsible for the injuries suffered by people on their land. Second, it can be understood in terms of how it is applied in everyday life. Some examples can help to clarify what premise liability law is all about.

Retail Establishments

Premises liability law allows retail store owners to function with a clear idea of what their responsibilities are under the law. They typically care insurance to cover them in the even that they are sued because of an injury. Their responsibilities are not particularly demanding. They need to maintain a reasonably safe environment for the people who visit their stores. This means providing safe surfaces to walk on, providing signage to warn of hazards and making sure that their customers are discouraged from taking risks that are inappropriate. For instance, stores with high shelves oftentimes have plenty of signage warning you against trying to access the high shelves without assistance. This is an example of a storeowner being responsible.