Falls are a major cause of injury – and death – in this country and are “the second leading cause of accidental death and disability after automobile accidents” (The Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2020).
While some falls just can’t be avoided, most of them can be and therefore the majority are preventable. Falls can happen almost anywhere – at home, at work, at the grocery store and even when you go out for a nice meal to one of your favorite or least favorite restaurants.
Unfortunately, going out to eat at a restaurant – which is such a major part of our culture and society today – is also the most likely place for you to suffer a slip and fall injury.
There are more slip and fall incidents in the restaurant industry than in any other industry doing business across this country. Slip and falls “are the number one cause of accidents in hotels, restaurants and public buildings according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics” (Willis).
In fact, “more than three million food service employees and over one million restaurant industry guests are injured annually because of slips, trips, and falls in America’s restaurants. According to the National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI), the hospitality industry spends over $2 billion on such injuries each year; and these injuries are increasing at a rate of about ten percent annually.”
This is Certainly No Laughing Matter
Do you remember the 70’s sitcom “Three’s Company”?
As a kid, I loved that show and I remember tuning in every Tuesday night to see what predicament – and how many slip and falls – the main character Jack Tripper would get himself into (the irony of the character’s last name being Tripper wasn’t lost on me as a child, either – after all I was reasonably bright for my age).
Played by the amazing late actor and pratfall comedian extraordinaire John Ritter, Jack would run into things, be hit by things, and/or fall down in a way that was invariably funny to me and millions of other Americans. We also had Dick Van Dyke and Chevy Chase back in the day as well as they used their similar brand of pratfall comedy to make audiences laugh in a wide variety of television shows, stand-up routines, and movies.
When people see actors slipping and falling on TV shows and movies – if it’s pulled off just right – they are funny, because no matter how deep in the show you become, there’s still a part of you that knows that the show isn’t real and therefore neither is the fall, or the hurt. But in the real world – slips, trips, and falls are certainly no laughing matter.
Falls Can Hurt Your Bottom…and A Restaurant’s Bottom Line
“Slips, trips, and falls account for… 39% of all general liability claims in the restaurant industry…”
“…For slips, trips, and falls, the average general liability claim cost for restaurants is $3,550. …the National Restaurant Association [reveals that] slips, trips and falls are the single largest cause of Emergency Room visits… cause over 20,000 fatalities in North America each year and are a leading cause of death in the workplace (second only to traffic accident fatalities)” (Judi, 2020) and it costs restaurants “tens of billions of dollars per year from regulatory fines, productivity losses, and other administrative expenses.” (Society Insurance, 2021).
The financial loss to restaurants from slip and fall incidents not only comes from lawsuit losses, settlement claims, and workers’ compensation claims, but also the loss of customers and billions of dollars in workers compensation matters and lost time from work.
“According to a survey of more than 1,000 Americans, nearly one in three adults – or 60 million Americans – are unlikely to visit a restaurant if they found out someone had slipped or fallen recently.” (XpressMats, 2023).
-An excerpt from Howard Cannon’s new book in the ‘Restaurant Ridiculous’ series:
‘Slip and Fall Personal Injury Lawsuits: Negligent Acts, Management Fails & Industry Solutions’
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