What Do Wet Floor Signs Actually Do?

When property owners fail to protect visitors from slip and fall hazards, they may be responsible for the visitors’ injuries. Businesses throughout Alabama do what they can to prevent such hazards, including using wet floor signs to warn of spills, but these signs aren’t a fail-safe against litigation. Ensuring their property is well staffed, engages in best storage practices, and is diligent about training are a few ways they can prevent customers and visitors from injury.

If you have questions after a slip and fall – even if the store placed a yellow wet floor warning sign near the spill – talk with a Birmingham personal injury attorney. Every injury case is unique, and there is no universal recommendation for every slip and fall case.

The Purpose of Wet Floor Signs

Wet floor signs are a common sight in businesses, from restaurants to retail chains. They serve a clear and obvious purpose – to warn customers about slippery floors so they can avoid them and avoid slipping and falling. More than anything else, they are a deterrent to foot traffic, helping the business prevent accident and injury on the premises.

Signs are inexpensive and simple to use, and they serve a major role in protecting the business against damages. At the same time, however, they are not a guaranteed protection against either injury or litigation. Ultimately, unsafe conditions will continue to be unsafe until the proprietor fixes them or blocks all traffic. The best way to protect against liability and litigation is to remove the hazardous conditions from the site altogether.

Do Wet Floor Signs Protect Businesses Against Liability?

Wet floor signs are not a legal catch-all for safety. The presence of a sign does not, for example, guarantee the business is free from liability. The primary concern in personal injury cases, particularly in commercial facilities, is fault and concerns over negligence. A business may still be liable for litigation if the conditions that lead to a fall are self-created, and conditions that the business is or should be aware of.

A sign on its own enough is not enough to prevent liability. If the business or its employees used too much wax or cleaning product, this might cause them to be liable regardless. Having a warning sign present offers some degree of legal protection, but it is not a guaranteed defense against litigation – particularly if other factors lead to an accident.

What to Do After Slip and Fall Injury 

Before anything else, talk with a medical professional to receive attention for injuries you may have suffered during an accident. This is both for personal health and for constructing a court case later. Without proof of injury from a medical professional, you may not be able to show evidence of the pain it caused.

After receiving medical attention, contact a slip and fall attorney in Birmingham to discuss the circumstances of your accident. The attorney will work with your case to understand the situation and help build your case. The most important factor in determining fault is consideration of whether the business was negligent in protecting customers against injury. Every case is unique, so the presence of a wet floor sign or other warning indication may not mean that a case is impossible to build.

Talk with a Slip and Fall Attorney

Regardless of a warning sign, if negligence was a factor in the incident, the store may still be responsible for injuries you or a loved one suffered due to a slip and fall on a wet floor. To determine whether your injury was the result of neglect, explain your situation to one of our Birmingham premises liability attorneys during a free consultation