Duty to Warn and Injury Claims for Product or Premises Liability
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”), accidents are the fourth leading cause of death in the United States with most of these accident fatalities involving (1) motor vehicle accidents; (2) falls; and (3) poisonings. Only health-related illnesses caused more fatalities in this country (heart attacks; cancer; and COVID).
Of course, there are laws at both the state and federal level designed to prevent accident deaths. It is a complicated undertaking.
Protecting against catastrophic or deadly accidents means preventative action on the worksite as well as on our roadways and in our daily lives, where we visit stores, go to school, and travel for vacation. The responsibility to keep people safe from harm is legally mandated for a variety of companies and entities, from employers to contractors; manufacturers and retailers; landowners and shopkeepers. See, e.g., Pierce Jr, Richard J. “Encouraging safety: the limits of tort law and government regulation.” Vand. L. Rev. 33 (1980): 1281.
Over the years, significant bodies of law have been built to try and stop preventable accidents like motor vehicle accidents and on the job injuries. One of the easiest and most commonplace requirements here is the legal “duty to warn” and the use of warning labels and warning signs.
Warning labels or warning signs are involved in all sorts of industries here in Illinois and Indiana, including: (1) workplace safety; (2) public building fire and weather safety; (3) health care safety, such as Haz-Mat warnings at hospitals; (4) transportation safety (including dangers with roads, railway, shipping, warehousing, etc.); and (5) products and goods (food and beverages; electronics; etc.).
Warning Labels vs. Warning Signs
One of the most efficient and economical ways to keep people safe from an accident is to make sure they have been educated about a risk of injury through the use of warning labels or warning signs. Warning labels and warning signs serve the same purpose: to protect people from getting hurt or killed from a known danger.
Warning Labels
Warning labels may be printed on the product, like a fast-food hot coffee cup, but many are usually found stuck with some type of adhesive or glue to the surface of an object, like a warning of fall risks on a portable ladder or scaffold.
Warning labels can be found on things like products stored or for sale; power tools; hand tools; appliances; machinery; equipment; and food items (like hot coffee). At a worksite, lockout-tagout (LOTO) protocols should include the use of warning labels.
Warning labels, by design, must be monitored to make sure they are still stuck in place and their glue has not failed. There also needs to be routine checks for warning labels to be legible. Faded labels or warning labels covered by mud or debris that cannot be read do little in protecting against harm.
For more on warning labels, read: Warning Labels: Danger of Serious Injury or Death in Accidents Involving Products.
Warning Signs
Warning signs are made with a sturdy material (metal, plastic) and attached within a danger zone on places like doors, fences, gates, or walls. They are manufactured for extended use with considerations of things like weather conditions, interior heat or cold, etc. Facility signs as well as those on roadways or railways must be sturdy; large enough to be easily seen; and often include both graphics as well as text.
For instance, a warning sign at the local shopping mall may educate shoppers that a sidewalk has uneven pavement; a movable warning sign at a stadium may alert people to slippery surfaces from a wet floor; and a warning sign on a gated entrance at may warn of various dangers at a quarry site.
Regulations and Standards for Warning Signs and Warning Labels
There is no mystery over how these warnings are to be given by those with the duty to warn of dangers and hazards. Legal regulations and industrial standards exist that detail how warning signs and warning labels are to be designed and displayed. There are also specifics on when a warning label is to be used and when a warning sign is the preferred way to alert people to risks that can cause injury.
Legal Regulations
For instance, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (“OSHA”) oversees workplace compliance with federal regulation 29 CFR 1910.145, entitled “Specifications for accident prevention signs and tags.” While 1910.145 allows the employer and others with possession, custody, or control of the jobsite to use their discretion in choosing between a warning sign or warning label, it does insist that the warning is obvious. It must be easily read; easily seen; and permanent.
Failure to comply with OSHA regulations can result in fines and penalties and form the basis of a legal argument of a breach in the duty to warn due to legal noncompliance.
Industrial Standards
There are also industrial standards published by the American National Standards Institute (“ANSI”) that apply to worksites as well as manufacturers of products and goods in the United States. For instance, ANSI Z535.1-2022 details safety warnings for things like the colors to be used in warning signs and warning labels.
These standards do not have the force of law; nevertheless, failure to comply with these recognized minimums can be used to argue that there has been a breach in the duty to warn in the event of an accident.
Product Liability Claims: Warning Signs and Warning Labels
After someone has been hurt in an accident involving a product or good, there will be investigations into the event by the authorities as well as those who may have legal liability, their insurance carriers and defense attorneys, and those advocating for the accident victim and their loved ones.
If the injury was caused by a product or good (like a ladder; generator; power tool; saw; infosystem in a car; automated machinery in a plant; heavy equipment on a construction site; etc.) then queries must be made into whether the “duty to warn” has been breached.
Product liability claims based upon warning signs or warning labels may be available to the accident victim when their bodily injuries have been caused by a product or good. Any product that is dangerous or hazardous must give an effective warning to anyone who might use it, or be near it, so they understand the risks involved.
A failure to warn, to instruct on the dangers, or to give an inadequate explanation of the risks can establish liability under state product liability law for accident injuries. The manufacturer of the product; the makers of its component parts; designers; distributors; wholesalers; sellers; installers; and others may share responsibility for what has happened.
Premises Liability Claims: Warning Signs and Warning Labels
Anyone who owns or controls property has legal responsibilities to keep people safe who go onto their premises. The state laws of Illinois and Indiana categorize these people into three types: (1) invitees; (2) guests; and (3) trespassers.
Premises liability law allows accident victims to file legal claims for damages against landowners and others who exert control over the property. These claims may include an allegation that there was a breach in the duty to warn of dangers on the property based upon a warning label or warning sign.
For instance, someone who falls and is hurt or killed may have a claim if there was a failure to provide an adequate warning sign of a slippery surface on a stairwell or because of a missing warning label on proper use of a worksite ladder.
Dangerous conditions on the premises must be given proper warning to all who may enter upon the property. Just having an orange cone near a dangerous area may not be enough to meet the legal duty of care and safety owed to the accident victim.
Premises liability accidents involving warning signs or warning labels may result in liability for not only the titleholder of the real estate but several other parties, such as: landlords; tenants; business owners; property management companies; maintenance companies; repair services; and cleaning service providers.
Warning Labels and Warning Signs: Accident Claims in Illinois and Indiana
After a serious or fatal accident in Illinois or Indiana, an investigation may reveal that a warning label or warning sign failed to protect the victim from harm. These facts must be correlated to the appropriate set of laws that apply to the particular situation.
Federal and state law must be researched for legal violations. In some cases, there may be claims for damages against several different parties based upon a failure in either a warning sign or warning label that is based upon either (1) product liability or (2) premises liability law.
The damages available for these claims will also be defined by law. As a general rule, victims and their loved ones will be able to seek recompense for things like medical expenses, long term care, physical rehabilitation, mental health needs, pain and suffering, lost wages, lost earning capacity, and more.
For more, read:
- Wrongful Death Damages After Fatal Work Accidents in Illinois or Indiana
- Catastrophic Injuries in an Accident: Damages for the Loss of a Normal Life
- Damages Available After a Pedestrian Accident in Chicago
- Pain Awareness: Claims to Cover an Accident Victim’s Pain Damages
- What are Legal Damages After a Work-Related Accident in Indiana or Illinois?
Warning labels and warning signs are so commonplace that they may be taken for granted by those who have a legal duty to keep people safe. If there is a breach in the duty to warn, tragic and preventable accidents can be the result. Please be careful out there!
