Illinois work accidents sometimes happen when the worker is injured due to a dangerous condition on the property of a customer where they are sent to work. Property owners have a legal obligation to keep their property in safe condition for persons lawfully on the premises, and this includes workers who are brought onto the property. Failing to keep the property in safe condition can be the basis for an Illinois third party liability slip and fall suit. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to work on several cases where workers have been injured due to dangerous conditions on the property of another:
- I represented a roofer who stepped in a hole and suffered a serious knee injury on a construction site. He had parked his vehicle on the lawn on the building where the roofing work was being done. The property owner failed to fill the hole.
- I represented a lawyer who was injured while going down stairs in her office building during a fire drill. While going down the fire evacuation stairwell, she hit her head against a pipe that was placed there in violation of building codes. She suffered a neck injury and post-traumatic migraine headaches.
- I represented a truck driver who was injured when he slipped on oil on the loading dock of a facility where he went to pick up a shipment. The warehouseman knew that there was oil on the dock but failed to clean it up. The truck driver fell off the loading dock and suffered a knee injury which required surgery.
- I represented a marketing representative who passed out food samples at the back of a store. At the end of the day, she went into the back room of the store to get her coat and slipped in spaghetti noodles that had been spilled on the floor by store employees. She suffered a broken hip and had to undergo surgery.
- I represented a factory worker who was injured when she slipped on a wet floor in the bathroom at her workplace. The cleaning crew was mopping the floor and did not put out “Wet Floor” signs. She suffered a lower back injury.
- I represented a carpenter who went to a factory to bid on a job. While being shown to the place where the work would be done, he slipped in lubricant that was leaking from some of the machinery due to poor maintenance. He suffered a low back injury which required a spinal fusion.
- I represented a lawyer who suffered a fractured wrist when he tripped in a pothole in a crosswalk while going to court.
Because the Worker’s Compensation Act prevents injured workers from suing their employer directly, if you have a fall on work property, you are probably going to be limited to worker’s compensation benefits. However, if there is reason to believe that someone other than your employer was responsible for maintenance of the property or did something to create the hazard that caused your fall, then it is probably worth having an experienced Chicago personal injury lawyer investigate the case further.