No matter where we are, whether it is a supermarket, a car park, a doctors surgery or a school, we rely on light to help us walk around and navigate unknown environments. We receive roughly 85 percent of information from our sense of sight, so it’s no surprise that when lighting is inadequate, we are much more susceptible to accidents and injuries.
Not all lighting comes equal. Appropriate lighting depends on the place that it is being used, but it usually is without shadows or glare. This prevents our eyes from becoming fatigued and reduces the risk of migraines.
Bad lighting, however can be more than just an inconvenience. It is quite often the root cause of accidents and injuries on private premises. Too much light or too little light can make things like stairwells or steps hard to see. Insufficient light can also lead to incidents such as people banging their head on door arches or tripping on misplaced items.
Being injured due to bad lighting could be successfully argued as negligence. If the property owner or manager knew that the lighting was badly placed or irresponsibly thought out, then they had a duty to fix it to prevent injury. Similarly, if the owner experienced a power outage and either continued to keep the venue open or did not do enough to inform people about the safety risk, it likely also counts as negligence.
Making a claim based on a lighting-related injury can be complex, but if you suffered damages, you should enforce your rights and seek compensation for your injuries.
Source: his magazine, “lighting the way to safety,” Cynthia L. Roth, accessed Oct. 27, 2017
