Business owners have a lot on their plate. A functional business operation involves an inestimable sum of considerations, and owners ruthlessly cull unnecessary variables. Of all the unnecessary things that plague businesses, slip and fall accidents—while seemingly innocuous—are one of the most pernicious. Often, unsuspecting owners are mercilessly bludgeoned by the weight of slip and fall accidents, which can lead to slip and fall injury, slip and fall cases, and the dreaded slip and fall settlements. For these business owners, the most painful realization is the lesson that a slip and fall injury is very easy to prevent. Slip prevention comes in multiple forms. But the most obvious one is the installation of adequate flooring—a slip-resistant flooring that stops slip and fall accidents before they have the chance to occur. Otherwise, the consequences are dire. Medical treatments for slip and fall injury account for an enormous proportion of aggregate medical fees. Slip and fall settlements can value in the millions. And honestly, the suffering that a victim with a serious slip and fall injury experiences is oftentimes a cost that no dollar amount can reach. But, these consequences are just as preventable as they are terrible. Thoughtfully placing rubber, anti-slip floors where they are most needed is an investment that can save you thousands (which is probably an underestimate). Slip prevention isn’t just a precaution; it’s an investment. Below, we have compiled a list of statistics showing just how costly slip and fall accidents can be.

How much does the average slip and fall injury cost?


For the victim, medical bills for treating a slip and fall injury average between $30,000 and $40,000.



Can I claim compensation for a fall?


Because slipping and falling often occurs on someone else’s property, the victim can sue the property owner for damages if certain conditions are met. Depending on the slip and fall law of the state in which the victim slipped and fell, slip and fall settlements can range from thousands to millions. For example, in 2012, Valerie Dantzler won one million dollars from Wal-Mart after the court deemed that Wal-Mart was responsible for causing Dantzler’s slip and fall injury.



• The average cost of a worker’s compensation claim is $19,000. Instead of having to pay that amount, would it not be smarter to prevent accidents wholesale and invest in some no-slip flooring that would be much cheaper and potentially save thousands of dollars in the future?

• “Falls from the same level” are the second most costly injury which occurs in the workplace, annually. The combined annual cost is nearly $7 billion.

• The annual cost of disabling accidents that occur in the workplace exceeds $11 billion.

• The average cost of the rubber mat that is 4ft-by-50ft is $400. The average life of this mobile and modular product is 5 years! That is less than $80 dollars per year.

Injury Statistics

• These injuries account for 15% of all accidental deaths yearly in North America.

• They account for 30% of all reported injuries. This means that there could definitely be more similar injuries that occur, causing even more harm to people all over the United States.

• They are the most frequent cause of non-fatal injuries.

• Make up the majority of general industry accidents.

• Over 540,000 of these injuries will require hospital care every year.

• 300,000 of these are disabling.

• They cause 20,000 fatalities per year in North America.

Clearly, these types of injuries are to be taken seriously. They have the capability to not only disable and incapacitate, but to end lives in severe cases. While the loss of the ability to work or the loss of life is costly enough, there are unlimited financial losses that can be associated with these injuries as well. Business owners are oftentimes forced to pay for compensation, medical care costs, and legal fees, not only to their employees but to their customers and the public in general. Instead of waiting for one of these injuries to occur, it would be a better decision to but anti-slip mats or similar flooring for their establishments as a means of prevention.

A slip and fall injury is not to be taken lightly. With them come severe consequences, some of which cannot be remedied at all, and many which will require some sort of monetary compensation, leading to financial losses for your business. Any smart business owner would take any measure necessary to prevent such an unfortunate occurrence from happening. Especially when the cost of protecting wet floors is so small. Rubber flooring and mats will last seasons ands will provide a modular and affordable surface for your problem areas. Injuries can be easily prevented with either safety matting or complete no-slip flooring to cover entire floors areas. Just one anti-slip mat could be the difference between keeping both your employees and your customers safe or allowing a terrible accident to take place in your business, and you having to take responsibility for it.

What are the elements of a slip and fall case?


There are four criteria for determining whether the victim of a slip and fall deserves compensation. First, the hazard—perhaps a slippery floor-hazard—must have been present on the property where the victim fell. Second, the victim must have been granted lawful access into the property’s premises. Third, the hazard—perhaps one of many slippery floor-hazards on the property—must have injured the victim. And finally, the person must have been injured by the hazard as a result of the property owner’s negligence. This last element can get tricky, especially when the property owner erected a wet floor sign where the, say, slippery bathroom floor In these slip and fall cases, issues like whether the slippery area was the only way in and out of property come into play. Nonetheless, this kind of minutia is peripheral to the main point: The four criteria above are what a business owner should first consider when a slip and fall injury occurs on her property. However, there’s an even better route to take. Instead of reacting to a slip and fall injury, a business owner could install rubber, anti-slip matting where hazards often appear. What this means is that the prudent business owner would emplace the proper measures for slip and fall prevention, halting the chaos at its point of genesis—the fall.



What is the average cost of a slip and fall?


The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the medical fees for treating a slip and fall injury are—on average—between $30,000 and $40,000 (CDC). If you sustain a slip and fall injury in your home, then that’s a fortune to pay out of your own pocket. And if it’s one of your employees or customers on your property who sustains a slip and fall injury, the settlement costs can be even higher. The point is that these are ridiculous sums to risk paying, especially when rubber, anti-slip mats cost a miniscule fraction of those prices. Framed this way, proactive slip prevention is a no-brainer.



How many work days are lost due to slips, trips, and falls?


In the United States, on average, each worker loses 11 work-days per year due to slip and fall injury. Thus, as a business owner, even if you are not at fault for an employee’s slip and fall injury, you are still losing a fraction of the total productivity the employee provides your business. Slip prevention is always a winning strategy.

Are rubber floors expensive?


It is an established fact that rubber—as a material—provides some of the best traction out there. (That’s why car tires are made of rubber!) A 4-by-50-foot rubber mat, on average, costs $400. Furthermore, rubber mats typically last 5 years before needing to be replaced. Thus, in installing slip prevention, a business owner is paying about $80 a year to prevent potentially thousands of dollars in expenses associated with slip and fall injury. Looking at it this way, rubber floors are a steal.

Some of our other articles detail exactly how physically detrimental slip and fall accidents can be on their victims. But, in this article, our aim is to dive deeper into the costs associated with a slip and fall injury—whether it’s a cost shouldered by the victim or by a property owner. Ultimately, the conclusions parallel—a slip and fall injury is no joke. One bad beat, and you—whether you’re the victim or the business owner—can be in for immeasurable physical, mental, and financial hurt. There is a plethora of undesirable consequences that arises when a slip and fall injury occurs—especially when the right legal criteria are met. The litany of fees associated with one bad slip and fall injury can decimate your assets, putting you in a world of torment that begins and ends in a dry, wooden court room.