It’s important to maintain the safety of your home for you and your family’s sake, but it’s also equally important to ensure the safety of any guests once they enter your property. If someone suffers an injury on your property due to your negligence in maintaining your property, you could be found liable in a premises liability lawsuit.
According to the expert Gulfport personal injury attorneys at Haug, Farrar & Franco, PLLC, “Premises liability is a type of personal injury law that deals with property owners and their duties to visitors on their premises.” There are different types of visitors to properties and each is owed a different duty of care. These include:
1. Licensees
Licensees are usually on your property as social guests and are the most common type of visitor to your home. You should notify licensees of any dangerous conditions on your property.
2. Invitees
These include those who enter your property for business purposes such as a plumber or repairman. You owe invitees the highest duty of care by maintaining safety on your property to avoid any dangerous situations.
3. Trespassers
Trespassers enter your property without authorization so you owe them no duty.
Now that the different types of visitors to your property and what duty of care they are owed as been defined, it’s important to recognize some of the most common types of premises liability suits and how you can avoid them
Swimming Pool Injuries
Perhaps the most common type of premises liability injuries occur due to swimming pools. Slip and falls and diving injuries may be the most common pool accidents. Also common is children spending time around a pool unsupervised, which may lead to them falling into the pool and in the worst case, drowning. So, how can you maintain your pool’s safety?
- Install a fence around your pool. This is the most common way to prevent any wandering children from accidentally falling into your pool. You should also make sure that the locks and handles on your fence are child-proof.
- Keep pool chemicals locked up. Pool chemicals can easily become deadly if ingested. Children should not be able to have access to any type of pool chemicals/cleaners.
- Keep your pool area clear of clutter. Anything that could cause a trip or fall should be moved out of the way.
Dog Bites
Dog bites are also a common premises liability injury. Some states have a one-bite rule, which essentially means that if the dog owner was not privy to the dog’s tendency to bite as it has not occurred in the past, they may not be held liable. However, if the dog were to bite a guest more than once, the owner is now liable. How can you prevent your dog from biting a guest on your property?
- Be familiar with your dog’s behavior and tendencies. If you are concerned about how your dog will react to guests on your property, make sure your dog does not come in contact with any guests.
- Leash your dog. Leashing your dog is also a good idea to avoid a dog bite injury.
Stairway Accidents
The presence of a staircase adds another level of danger to a property. When someone slips and falls from a stairwell, they could fall more than 15 feet, rather than 5 feet from a slip and fall accident on a flat surface. There are a couple of things you can do to keep the stairs in your home safe:
- Install handrails. Installing handrails on both sides of your staircase mitigate the risk of a fall occurring.
- Remove clutter from the steps. Ensuring that your stairs are free from any debris or clutter will help to maintain their safety. This will also lower the risk of a fall occurring on your stairs.
- Make sure there is plenty of light around your staircase. It is important that the stairs are illuminated so that each step can easily be seen.
Making sure your property is safe for visitors is important in preventing any accidents and injuries from occurring. If you fail to do so, you could be found liable in a premises liability suit. Even a few simple steps can help you keep your home safe from accidents and leave you with peace of mind.