As an invitee visiting businesses located in Georgia, you expect owners to exercise reasonable care to provide safe premises. Grocery store owners, for example, owe a duty of care to keep their premises free from dangerous toxins and hazardous conditions.
As noted by Chron.com, insufficient ventilation or poor lighting may cause injury to commercial visitors. With inadequate circulation, the air moving throughout an establishment could collect mold or fungus. As a customer, you may experience respiratory discomfort while shopping. When a store area lacks ample lighting, you could bump into clutter or slip and fall.
A duty owed to keep premises free of hazards
To help maintain safe premises and prevent accidents, a manager may assign employees to monitor certain customer areas. An assigned or selected employee, for example, may keep watch for wet spills in a specific area. When spotting a spill, the employee immediately mops the affected area or places warning cones around it. Other assigned tasks may include clearing aisles of fallen items.
As noted by Forbes magazine, employees must set up clearly visible signs or cones to alert customers to the presence of a dangerous condition. When an employee finds an onsite hazard, a duty of care exists to alert customers of an accident risk.
Legal actions to recover from injuries
If an on-premises accident should occur, affected individuals at a commercial establishment may file legal action to hold the owner liable for the injuries suffered. Harmed individuals may seek relief for medical bills, rehabilitation and recovery time.
Georgia’s statutes require business owners to maintain safe premises to protect their customers from harm. Personal injury damage awards may also include punitive compensation as a penalty for a store’s employees failing to uphold their duty to keep the premises safe.
