Hurt While at the Supermarket? Was Your Accident Preventable?

You just ran into the local supermarket to pick up a few things. As you’re walking down the aisle, a box falls off from one of the top shelves. At least that’s what you’re told. Apparently, you were knocked out when the box hit you in the head. You don’t really remember anything. And, now you can’t help but wonder if your accident was preventable.

If you live in the Hudson County area, you may have visited any of the small or large area grocery stores. On one corner, there’s a Twin City Supermarket. Meanwhile, you could prefer a larger food store like Shop Rite. In Jersey City alone, your choices to pick up staple items range from bodegas to big chain stores. The best you can hope for is that they have some safety procedures in place.

Supermarkets: Accidents Waiting to Happen?

In some cases, it might seem that walking down grocery store aisles is akin to navigating through an obstacle course. For that reason alone, it’s not unusual for someone to trip, slip and fall in the supermarket. However, that’s not the only type of accident that can happen in the food store. Here are some other scenarios that occur all too frequently:

• Floor surface was uneven or slippery and caused victim to fall
• Shelves were improperly stacked, and items fell from them
• Spillage in aisle was ignored by store personnel and caused a slip and fall
• Opened cartons were improperly stored or shelved

All things considered, timing is a crucial issue when determining if a store’s negligence or inaction had something to do with your accident. For example, the customer in front of you may have been looking at the label on a glass jar of pickles. You may be directly behind him when the patron drops the jar and spills liquid in the aisle. As a result, you could slip and fall. However, this is the type of accident that the store really had no control over.

Safety Practices in Grocery Stores

What you may not know is that most grocery stores have established safety practices. As a result, employees receive extensive training and are expected to conduct routine inspections. Additionally, the information must be recorded to show that the supermarket is on top of ensuring a safe environment for their customers.

First, you could suffer accidental injuries in a food market before you even make it inside. It’s up to store management to check parking lot conditions. Is the area properly illuminated? Are there holes in the pavement? Were snow and ice removed?

Next, there’s the issue of keeping up with wet floors inside the store. There are a few reasons that floors become slippery. In the winter months, there’s the issue of people tracking in snow. However, both the floral department and produce departments may have problems with water sprays. Supermarkets may assign personnel to monitor potentially hazardous conditions and mop them up to prevent accidents.

In best case scenarios, store managers will check to ensure that shelf merchandise is stacked in accordance with standard protocol. At the very least, that means that nothing should be placed higher than six feet from the floor.

These are just some examples of safety procedures that are designed to prevent accidents. Of course, if the store fails to follow them, you could suffer severe injuries.

Contact Us

At the Law Offices of Anthony Carbone, we have assisted a number of people injured in supermarkets. Were you hurt? We would like to help you. There is no cost to meet with us. In fact, we only get paid if we are able to bring you a settlement or verdict award. Contact us to schedule an appointment.

Share this Post