SLIP and FALL ACCIDENTS
Slip and falls occur when an occupier has failed to take reasonable steps to ensure that his premises are maintained well enough to be reasonabley safe to people entering onto them.
Common situations giving rise to slip and fall claims include fruit dropping onto a supermarket floor, uneven floor surfaces, lack of a banister on stairs, poorly marked changes in elevation, and slippery surfaces, especially ice.
Slip and Fall accidents are regulated by the Occupiers' Liability Act. Anyone who is in physical possession of premises or responsibility for control over the condition of the premises or control over persons allowed to enter the premises is an occupier. An occupier "owes a duty to take such care as in all the circumstances of the case is reasonable to see that persons entering on the premises...are reasonably safe while on the premises".
Courts have held that occupiers have an obligation to clear snow and ice and or to lay sand or salt. Slippery items must be removed from surfaces. Surfaces must be relatively flat to prevent persons entering thereon from tripping. Unseen dangers must be eliminated.
Properties occupied by government authorities, especially municipalities, are protected by stringent notice and short limitations provisions.
Criminals entering onto premises to commit a crime are held to willingly assume all risks on the premises but the occupier must still not act with reckless disregard for the criminal or set a trap with the deliberate intent to harm him. However, it is unlikely that most juries would be overly sympathetic to anyone trying to break into premises.
Persons entering into rural or vacant premises will often be held to have assumed all risks thereon.
Occupiers may hire independent contractors to take care of their premises. Common instances include a snow removal company cleaning snow off sidewalks. It is often controversial in these situations whether the occupier has done all that is reasonable in the circumstances to make the premises safe.