PREMISES LIABILITY: Importance of proper design, maintenance regarding structured to ensure safety

Did you know that during the month of May, Boston participated in Building Safety Month

In fact, Building Safety Month is an annual international campaign that reinforces the need for the adoption of modern, safe building rules, and helps people and businesses understand what it takes to create safe and sustainable structures.

The City of Boston hosted an online discussion on May 25, on the important role ordinary citizens and city building officials play in enhancing the quality of life in Boston and helping to sustain safe living conditions for residents, business, and communities. The City’s building inspectors also went on a pro-active inspection blitz to further Boston’s participation in the international campaign, according to news reports.

Exactly one month later, the country watched in horror as footage emerged from the partial collapse of a condo building in Surfside, Florida. While the Commonwealth has escaped the scale of Florida’s tragedy, we are hardly immune from building collapse.

On January 25, 1971, a luxury condo building that was under construction on 2000 Commonwealth Ave collapsed. Four workers were killed and 30 people were injured. A commission later found low-quality concrete had been used in some areas of the building. On April 19, 2021, four people living in the North End were displaced when a building at 8 Baldwin Place collapsed. Thankfully, no injuries were reported.

As one of the best personal injury law firms in the greater Boston area, our team at Swartz & Swartz P.C. understands the importance of properly designing and maintaining building structures to ensure the safety of everybody. We also know when it comes to construction and building maintenance, rules are broken, corners are cut, and people get injured as a result.

What rules get broken? What corners get cut? Answer: Building Codes – a set of official rules that set out minimal safety and health standards for the design, construction and maintenance of houses, condo buildings, and manufacturing facilities, to name a few. The Board of Building Regulations and Standards monitors Massachusetts building codes. The Board also licenses concrete testing labs and technicians and certifies municipal building inspectors. In Massachusetts, following the Building Code is a legal obligation for property owners and proprietors. They need to keep their buildings safe and take reasonable steps to ensure the health and safety of everybody who lives and works in them. It’s the law.

If you have been injured as a result of a building code violation, you may be able to recover damages under an area of personal injury law called premises liability. In Massachusetts, a violation of the building code can provide sufficient evidence of a property owner’s negligence, if the violation somehow caused your injury.

For example, crumbling concrete at your condo’s main entrance causes you to trip and fall; the railing you are leaning on collapses because it was built out of the wrong lumber; your house is seriously damaged because of faulty construction happening at your neighbor’s home.

No matter what’s happened, our experience attorneys have your back. Swartz & Swartz P.C. has more than four decades of experience representing premises liability victims. We are here to answer your questions and protect your legal rights. Call our Boston, Massachusetts office at (617) 742-1900, or toll-free at 1-800-545-3732.