What Happens If The Bleachers Collapse And Cause Injury
You've been looking forward to seeing your favorite band live in concert for months. The only reservation you have is that the concert is being held in an outdoor venue where you'll have to sit high up in the bleachers. You begin to have this irrational fear that the bleachers are going to collapse. Could this really happen to you? And if it does, what happens if you get hurt?
Bleachers Have Been Known To Collapse
There are no statistics that actually say what the chances are of bleachers collapsing, but it has been known to happen. In many instances, collapsing bleachers involved the kind of bleachers you would see in a high school gymnasium. The good news is, that many of these collapses happened many years ago. In 1989, the government made a statement that the main causes for collapsing bleachers were due to poor maintenance and improper use. At that time, there were sixteen cases of bleachers collapsing beginning in 1978.
Here are some more cases of bleacher collapses:
- In 1988 bleachers in a high school gymnasium collapsed in Pomfret, Maryland and 78 students were injured
- In 2013 a stadium collapsed in Columbus, Ohio and five people were taken to the hospital for minor injuries
- In 2013 a stadium collapsed in Cincinnati, Ohio where 12 people were injured
- In 2015 outdoor bleachers collapsed causing one person to be severely injured in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin
As you can see, the cases of bleachers collapsing and causing serious injury seem to be few and far between, which means you shouldn't have anything to worry about.
Just In Case the Bleachers Do Collapse
It would benefit you to know that since accidents have happened in the past, the issue of bleacher safety has been taken more seriously in recent years. Schools, city municipalities, and government agencies are required to have their bleachers inspected once a year.
If you are still worried that the bleachers you are sitting on are going to collapse, there are some precautions you can take. If you notice any damaged or broken seats, the bleachers don't appear to be very stable, or the seating capacity of the bleachers is overflowing, you may want to try to find another seat.
If by chance, you do end up getting injured by collapsing bleachers, and you feel you were injured by no fault of your own, it might be worth your time to call a personal injury lawyer like Radano & Lide.
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