When people think about injuries at retail establishments, they might think about what happens to workers. After all, employees could end up hurt due to repetitive stress from ringing people up or stocking shelves for hours. They may have to handle dangerous equipment in storage areas that could cause injuries. They could also get injured in attempted robberies and other situations involving criminal activity.
There are countless possible risks for retail employees, and many of those same risks may affect retail shoppers. Patrons of a business could easily end up injured during an attempted robbery or a shoplifting incident where someone runs out of the store and shoves someone out of the way. They could also end up hurt in a variety of other situations that the retail establishment likely could have prevented.
Injuries related to shelving
Attempting to reach the last box of cereal on the top shelf could lead to someone climbing up on a shelving unit not intended to bear their weight. The entire shelf might collapse, possibly resulting in severe injuries. People don’t necessarily have to climb onto shelves to put themselves at risk of getting hurt. Items on shelves could potentially fall, hitting people and causing a range of medical issues. Particularly serious cases could lead to spinal cord or brain injuries.
Slip-and-fall injuries
There is a reason that someone slipping while shopping is a trope commonly used in stories. Slip-and-falls send roughly a million people to emergency rooms every year. Businesses that see a lot of foot traffic also have endless opportunities for unsafe conditions. Spilled items and the water tracked in from outside the business could cause someone to slip and fall. Particularly when the business does not maintain appropriate levels of staffing, spills and puddles could go unnoticed for hours, putting visitors at risk of broken bones or worse.
Those who get hurt in retail establishments can benefit from reporting the matter to management and then seeking proper medical treatment. Filing a premises liability lawsuit is often be an appropriate response for those with significant medical costs and other losses related to an incident at a retail establishment caused by another’s negligence.
