Man Trips on Protruding Carpet

Case Overview

This case involves a man who tripped and broke his leg on a protruding carpet upon exiting an elevator in the lobby of his apartment building in Colorado. The carpet was not affixed to the floor and is pulled up frequently for vacuuming and cleaning. The plaintiff alleges that the carpet posed a significant danger to the building’s residents, and that the landlord was negligent in allowing the carpet to remain unsecured.

Questions to the Biomechanical Engineering expert and their responses

Please describe your experience evaluating different types of carpet. Can you speak to the advantages/disadvantages of these different carpets?

I have done work on slipping on carpeted areas in the past. The issues related to tripping on removable surfaces, like this carpet, are related to the weight, stiffness and radius of curvature to define how likely the carpet will rise above the floor level.

Please describe your experience evaluating safety measures for carpeted floors. Does fixation of the carpet to the floor play a major role?

The issues related to tripping on removable surfaces, like this carpet, are related to the weight, stiffness and radius of curvature to define how likely the carpet will rise above the floor level.

Have you ever served as an expert on a similar case? If so, please explain.

My area of expertise is gait (walking) and have testified in Ontario Civil courts regarding slips, trip, and fall biomechanics and kinesiology. Primarily, most of the work is related to tripping on uneven or elevated surfaces or obstructions on floor surfaces, so this case is certainly within my area of expertise.

About the expert

This forensic engineer earned his bachelors degree, masters degree, and PhD in engineering disciplines at the University of Toronto. He is a licensed professional engineer in Ontario, and belongs to the International Society of Biomechanics. He currently provides consulting engineering services in the fields of biomechanical analysis of injuries due to falls/collisions, slips/trips and falls on walking surfaces, and product failure.