When a tourist, employee, or guest is hurt because a hotel failed to maintain a safe environment, there may be a hotel accident claim. These claims are typically made against the hotel’s owner or management for failing to uphold the standard of care that a hotel should have for all guests and employees.
Accidents can occur anywhere in a hotel, so it is the owner’s and management’s duty to ensure that both guests and staff are kept in a secure environment. To ensure there aren’t any potential dangers from safety hazards or instances of hotel negligence, a hotel manager must conduct routine health and safety inspections.
You must consult a lawyer immediately if you or a member of your family has been injured in a hotel accident to get guidance on whether you should consider filing a personal injury claim. But for now, let’s pay attention to the fundamental reasons accidents happen.
Hotel Lighting Is Poor
Poor lighting is a major contributor to many mishaps and dangers in the hospitality sector, posing risks to both guests and staff. The poor lighting poses a trip or fall risk to both workers and visitors. Therefore, do not wait to speak to an attorney if you’re involved in a hotel accident, because the law is on your side. Does the hotel’s owner have enough lights both inside and outside? Do you feel secure exploring the hotel’s grounds after dark? These are only a few of the prerequisites that the hotel management previously had to meet.
Eye strain from gazing at a screen all day is another important concern related to the employment of hotel employees. Back and shoulder pain, headaches, and blurred vision are all symptoms of digital eye strain.
Inappropriate Flooring
Does the hotel department’s flooring meet its needs? Are the floors thoroughly cleaned? The risk of tripping and falling increases when the flooring is damaged, uneven, oily, and slippery.
The most frequent reason for hotel accidents is damp flooring that has not been cleaned up by hotel staff. If there are any spills on the floor, they must be cleaned up right away, or a wet floor notice should be placed to alert visitors to the possible hazard. Think about loose mats as well as switching from one type of floor to another. Slips happen when a person loses their footing on the floor or comes into contact with anything unintentionally. Hotels must deal with these problems, even though fencing and signs do help to some extent.
Not Putting up Emergency or Safety Signs
Many injuries in hotels can be avoided with proper signage. Employees and visitors are kept safe with well-defined exits, fire alarms, and electrical rooms. These help increase safety awareness and effectively spread communication during emergencies or crises. Are the signs legible and printed in big letters? Do people with disabilities receive accommodations, and are they aware of what to do in an emergency?
Contaminated Water or Food
Another highly frequent reason for hotel mishaps is food poisoning. Unfortunately, food poisoning must have struck you or a member of your family while you were on your yearly holiday at least once. This is frequently brought on by tainted food or drink. When you travel, hotels may have various health and safety regulations, which can result in food poisoning. It could be unfiltered water, poorly prepared meals, or even food that has an expired date.
Training in Manual Handling, Health, and Safety Is Lacking
Typically, this kind of accident happens to hotel staff members who haven’t had the proper manual handling training. Every employer is responsible for making sure that each of its employees is properly trained to do their jobs. A person who sustains an injury through improper manual handling may be sidelined from work for a while.
Whether you are a junior or senior employee, learning about safety and health concerns should always be a part of your hotelier career. Employers expect performance, but when they don’t give their employees adequate training, they lose out on productivity and a good work ethic. Does your employer go above and beyond to make sure employees comprehend every part of their training?
Furniture and Equipment That Is Defective or Broken
Hotels are frequently utilized, therefore there can be more wear and tear on the furniture, which could cause the furniture to break more quickly. If hotel furniture isn’t updated frequently, it can develop problems that lead to accidents and injuries. Back injuries and fractured bones can occur when unstable furniture unexpectedly collapses.
Keep in Mind That Human Strength Has Its Limits
This cause is primarily related to working in hotels. Lifters who work long hours are more vulnerable to work-related injuries when they are worn out. To meet a deadline, they can be urged to forgo safety precautions. Employers can use the right shortcuts rather than cutting corners with safety procedures by incorporating handles, smoothing off sharp edges, purchasing the right machinery to move heavy items, and changing workstations to accommodate people of different sizes and weights.
Escalator and Elevator Mishaps
To make it simpler for visitors to move between levels of the structure, many large hotels have elevators and occasionally even escalators. Any escalators or elevators in the hotel must be kept in good working order, and any safety issues that are discovered during routine maintenance must be resolved very quickly. Accidents may occur if hotel owners don’t take this precaution. Once the cable of an elevator holding four people split in 2008, the Paris Las Vegas hotel experienced a particularly terrifying catastrophe that sent the elevator plummeting fifteen floors. Thankfully, nobody was harmed. If you find yourself in a similar circumstance but are not as fortunate, speak with a hotel accident attorney right away.
The Presence of Bed Bugs
In recent years, bed bugs have made a comeback in the United States, and because they are hard to destroy and spread quite quickly (especially in areas where people are living close together), hotels must take all possible precautions to keep them out in the first place. If a hotel is informed that there are bed bugs in one of its rooms, it should treat the situation right away rather than attempt to hide it. Guest bites from bed bugs might result in uncomfortable welts if they stay in the hotel for a long time. People may even get anemia from bed bugs if the infestation is strong enough.
Unfortunately, while having a responsibility to keep their establishments secure for visitors and employees, hotel owners often fail to do so. You might be entitled to compensation if a hotel owner fails to maintain the safety of their property and you suffer an injury as a result.
We hope that this article will be useful to you and that it will be easier for you to identify which hotel mishaps you can take advantage of.
