You fly to Las Vegas and check into your hotel, which is connected to your favorite casino. It’s the perfect set-up, you think to yourself. You never have to leave the building to have all of the fun that you’re after.
What you don’t know is that you’re going to get involved in a serious slip-and-fall accident in the next couple of days. You’re going to break your hip and wind up in the hospital. It’s going to be expensive and painful, and you’re going to feel like the hotel and/or the casino itself is to blame.
Environmental hazards
One reason you may place blame on the company is if the building itself is full of environmental factors that caused you to slip and fall. It’s not as if you had too much to drink or stopped paying attention to where you were walking or did not wear proper footwear. You did everything right. Things outside of your control made you fall.
A few examples of environmental factors that can lead to a fall include:
- Inadequate lighting. If you can’t see where you’re going, it’s far too easy to trip and fall, especially if you already struggle with reduced eyesight. Poor lighting is dangerous everywhere, but it’s especially risky in stairways and parking lots.
- Poor stairway design. Did you know that it does not take much more than half of an inch of difference in stair heights to make everyone trip? You use muscle memory when you go up the stairs, and you assume they will all be exactly the same without actually thinking about it.
- Disrepair. When basic maintenance doesn’t happen, you could be in danger. For instance, maybe the banister on the stairs has felt loose for months, and no one fixed it. Then you grabbed it and it came off of the wall, sending you down the stairs.
- Clutter. Not picking things up properly means that trip hazards exist everywhere. This is especially dangerous in a casino where guests have been drinking and where improper lighting may make it hard for people to spot these hazards before they collide with them.
- Slippery surfaces. One common issue is when a bathtub does not have a non-skid surface, but you also face risks when hallways and tile floors are wet or overly waxed.
These are just a few of the risks you could face in a casino, but they show you just how dangerous your weekend in the city may really become.
If you do get hurt, you need to know if you have a right to financial compensation. You may need it to cover medical bills, lost wages, pain, and suffering, and much more.