After a hard week of work in Tampa, Florida, maybe you like to go out at the weekends to visit your favorite stores and restaurants? Or, perhaps your daily activities involve visiting numerous places to carry out different errands. In any case, the last thing you want is to suffer any kind of injury.
As you make your way around the city, you will have to navigate various potential hazards. Stairways are just one example. Over the years, you will have made your way up and down hundreds, probably thousands of different stairways. Your brain processes the distances and movements you must make almost automatically, and until now, you’ve never had a problem.
A defective stairway can change all of this. What is meant by defective stairways and what issues can they cause?
The dimensions of the stairs matter
For stairways to be safe, the dimensions of each step must be equal and the surface must be free from irregular gaps, cracks and holes. If steps are too narrow, then you cannot get a firm footing, which places you in serious danger of a fall. Furthermore, if steps are not uniform in their dimensions, you could be caught off guard by a step that is lower or higher in height than the others.
Stairway conditions are also important
The owners and management of premises that are open to the public have a legal duty to ensure that they are safe. This includes maintaining any stairways. Where steps are cracked or contain holes, users are in immediate danger. Holes in outdoor stairways can even hold pools of water, which makes the surface slippery as you travel up or down.
Being aware of some common stairway hazards could help to protect you from injury. If you have been injured due to someone else’s negligence, make sure you take a closer look at your legal options.
