What's the Law on Wet Floor Signs?
Posted on: 13 July 2021
A slip and fall on a wet floor is one of the most common personal injury claims. Many of these cases involve an argument over whether there should have been a wet floor sign or if the sign that was out was enough warning. So what is the law on wet floor signs?
Do Businesses Have to Have Wet Floor Signs By Law?
There is no specific law that a business has to put out a wet floor sign if the floor is wet in most places. That means the fact of not having a sign alone is not a legal violation. There are also no legal requirements regarding things like where the sign has to be, how tall it is, or what color it should be.
This does not mean that whether there was a sign is not important to your personal injury case. Similarly, your lawyer can also make arguments based on where the sign was and what it looked like.
Why Is Information About a Wet Floor Sign Important?
If there was a law requiring wet floor signs, it would be like speed limit laws. A speeding driver in a car accident usually gets a ticket and gets assigned fault based on breaking the speeding laws. However, drivers can still be found at fault based on their speed even if they weren't breaking the speed limit. For example, they might be going to fast for rainy conditions.
Not having a wet floor sign or a wet floor sign that provides good warning is like that driver going too fast in the rain. Even if they weren't breaking a specific law, they weren't exercising due care to prevent an accident. Even without wet floor sign laws, businesses have to exercise due care to keep customers from falling.
Does a Wet Floor Sign Make a Business Immune From Liability?
Just as a business doesn't have a blanket requirement to have a wet floor sign (but should), having a wet floor sign doesn't give blanket immunity from slip and fall lawsuits. The sign must provide reasonable warning of any unsafe conditions.
For example, a business might put a sign at the front door, mop the entire store, and only the back of the store is wet when a customer falls. The business is likely liable because once the customer starts walking on a dry floor, a sign at the front isn't reasonable warning the floor in the back is still wet.
If you've been injured by slipping on a wet floor, contact a local personal injury law firm, such as Grall Law Group, to learn more about your rights.
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