Heading to the gym is part of a regular routine for millions of people. Regular workouts provide many benefits, including greater endurance and improved mental health. It’s no surprise that people visit gyms even when they are traveling for work or vacation. Unfortunately, accidents are a common occurrence at gyms, and visitors can struggle with significant injuries. Call our firm to speak with an Atlanta personal injury lawyer about your case. We can go over the facts of what happened and review if you can sue.
Slip and Fall Accidents
Anyone at the gym can slip and fall due to:
- Sweat on the floor
- Spilled water or other liquids
- Loose carpets
- Cracked tiles
- Trash or other objects on the floor
Visitors can slip in the gym, locker room, or by the swimming pool. These accidents cause serious injuries, such as fractures, whiplash, and back injuries. Someone who falls into the pool could suffer potentially life-threatening injuries, such as anoxic brain damage.
Malfunctioning Gym Equipment
Too many gym visitors are injured by equipment which malfunctions, often because the equipment is old or worn out. People are injured using stationary bikes, treadmills, and weight machines. The owner should regularly inspect equipment to ensure it is working properly. If someone complains about the equipment, then the owner should investigate and replace it.
In some situations, the equipment could be defective from the moment it arrived due to a design or manufacturing defect. In that case, there might be no warning that the equipment is dangerous before a gym patron is injured. We might inspect the equipment to see if there is a design or manufacturing defect and sue the manufacturer.
Inadequate Instruction
Accidents sometimes happen because a personal trainer is inexperienced and careless in how they do their job. You could be hurt lifting weights incorrectly, which the trainer does not correct. Other gym visitors are hurt in group fitness classes, like water aerobics, because the gym does not provide adequate supervision.
Attacks in the Locker Room
A gym needs to ensure that the premises are reasonably safe from predictable hazards, which also includes crime. This means the gym should be aware of who is on the premises or in the locker room and take appropriate action. For example, if someone sneaks in without permission, the gym staff should ask them to leave.
Likewise, if someone is pestering other guests, then staff should investigate and possibly intervene. That means taking reports of dangerous or alarming behavior seriously. Sometimes staff should call the police if they need help ejecting someone from the premises.
Other reasonable safety devices in a gym include sufficient lighting and locks on the doors after hours. When security is lacking, then the risk of crime shoots up, and the gym could be partially responsible for any attack.
Traumatic Brain Injuries
Gym visitors suffer a variety of injuries, but brain injuries are among the most serious. A gym visitor could suffer a TBI when external force is applied to their head. They might strike their head on the ground when slipping or falling or after being attacked. A moderate TBI can leave someone in the hospital for days as their vital signs are closely monitored. TBIs have no easy cure, and many patients cannot return to the gym for years.
Can You Receive Compensation?
Anyone hurt might seek compensation from the gym owner for failing to maintain a safe premises. A gym accident typically falls under premises liability law, and property owners in Georgia must use reasonable care for the protection of visitors.
A public gym that sells memberships or lets someone use the equipment for a promotional period owes a duty of care to their guests. That typically means regularly inspecting the premises and promptly fixing any defects. When the owner cannot quickly fix a problem, they should warn visitors or possibly cordon off the area.
It is reasonable to expect gym owners to adequately respond to complaints about dangerous equipment or suspicious people on the premises. They cannot ignore the problem.
If you are hurt in a home gym, then you might seek compensation if equipment was defective when sold. Hold onto the equipment so your attorney can inspect it, possibly with the help of a product engineer to locate a defect.
What to Do after a Gym Accident
If you are conscious, we recommend taking these steps:
1. Tell the gym you are hurt. This step protects other visitors who could end up using defective equipment or slip on a hazard.
2. Document the accident. Before being whisked away to the hospital, get a picture of the equipment which malfunctioned or the trash on the floor which caused you to slip. Pictures help document the accident scene.
3. Receive prompt treatment. Medical treatment aids in recovery. It also fully documents your injuries so that we can prove what is causing your pain and disability.
4. Consult a lawyer with our firm. While you recover, we can begin finding other critical pieces of evidence. For example, we might inspect the treadmill which sent you flying or visit the shower where you slipped and fell. Another important step is to speak with witnesses to the accident. Many gyms also have security video which could have recorded the accident. We can ask the gym to preserve it.
5. Stay off social media. Don’t post anything related to the accident or the gym. You should also set your social accounts to private, just to be safe. Some defendants use information they find on social accounts to their advantage.
Call Stewart Miller Simmons Trial Attorneys Today
We are a firm of legal professionals who have dedicated our careers to helping injured accident victims. Our firm has won many settlements for clients in Atlanta and surrounding areas. After any type of accident, you should reach out to our firm to talk about whether you can bring a successful claim for financial compensation. Contact us today to get started with one of our Atlanta personal injury attorneys.