While you may be tempted to skip out on purchasing safety signs for your business to save money, in the long run this could cost you more money than you would save. Many people today try to take advantage of a lack of safety signs for their own benefit by suing the companies involved. Unless you want to find yourself in the midst of an expensive lawsuit, it’s best to comply with all safety sign regulations and suggestions.
The most potentially dangerous lawsuits are the ones in which a customer discovers a way in which you are not actually complying with the law. There are currently many government safety regulations for business, so make sure you talk to a lawyer to ensure that you are displaying all the required signs. You don’t want to find out that you forgot an exit sign or a caution sign when someone gets injured at your business. That lack of required safety signs could be a very costly mistake.
However, even if safety signs aren’t required, it’s always better to be safe than sorry. Even if you think that there is no way that someone could be stupid enough to do something, someone probably is, and it’s better to just buy a sign. If you still aren’t sure, think about these recent frivolous lawsuits, many of which could have been prevented with a few well-placed safety signs.
- A student from an Idaho university sued his school because he fell out of a third story window. He claimed that the school failed to display a safety sign warning him that he could be injured if he fell out of a window.
- A man in California sued a library because their library cat attacked his dog. This lawsuit could probably have avoided going to court if the library had simply displayed a “Beware of Cat” sign, even if the sign was partly in jest.
- A New Jersey driver sued McDonald’s after another man, who was eating McDonald’s at the time of the accident, hit him. He believed that the restaurant should have displayed a sign warning drivers not to eat while driving.
While none of the plaintiffs in these cases were awarded damages, you can still end up with costly lawyer fees while working to dismiss the case. The moral of the story? Always put up more safety signs than you think you need, it might save you thousands of dollars.
