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Going to college is a unique experience that people remember for the rest of their lives. While on campus, you’ll do all sorts of fun stuff and dedicate yourself to science. 

Unfortunately, the exuberance of youth often makes us disregard all the perils of student life. Many students join sports teams, sometimes suffering debilitating injuries that will follow them forever. Aside from physical activity, you can become gravely injured while walking on a slippery ramp or stepping on old, worn stairs. 

While colleges do their best to renew infrastructure, there are always some things that are out of their hands. Injuries can happen at any time, and you must understand your rights and obligations in such cases. In this article, we’ll mention things you can do during mishaps and how to best protect yourself.

Premises liability law

Premises liability law applies to most states and most educational institutions. Similar to restaurants, bars, and other private establishments, the property owner is responsible for the security and safety of its visitors. Whether you’re on campus for several years or just coming to a visit, you are fully covered by premises liability law.

According to this legal document, a host institution should protect all students and faculty. They should be able to live and learn in a safe environment, completely insulated from harm. However, in practice, this doesn’t always happen.

Given the size of certain campuses and all the amenities, it’s hard to constantly maintain the highest security standards. Students attend gyms, labs, and stadiums, each of which carries unique perils. Of course, we must also consider the human factor that can further add to that hazard. In other words, despite precautionary measures, you can always suffer an injury.

Elements of premise liability law 

In most cases, premise liability cases revolve around negligence. In most cases, injuries occur because the staff in charge didn’t perform their duty. For example, they might’ve known about the potential danger but didn’t want to spend money fixing it. In order for students to gain compensation, they need to meet the following criteria:

• The accuser needs to provide evidence that the staff knew about the problem but hasn’t taken proper measures to address it
• Furthermore, the student needs to demonstrate they’ve actually suffered the injury
• Lastly, they have to connect the faulty premises or equipment to their injury

Keep in mind that not everyone is equally protected. The law doesn’t apply to specific individuals, and the law is pretty clear in that regard as well:

• Invited individuals should be fully protected while on the campus. These visitors commonly arrive to close some sort of a deal. The staff has to ensure they don’t suffer any injury while visiting
• Licensee is a group of people who visit the campus for social purposes. The relationship between this group and the property owner is slightly looser than invitees, but property owners are still responsible for their safety nonetheless 
• Out of all groups, trespassers are the least protected. These individuals have the right to be on the property, so the college staff isn’t responsible for their injuries. Small children are the only exception, and faculty needs to ensure they’re fully protected while on premises

Given that students pay tuition, they have a business relationship with the college. In other words, they’re categorized as licensees and are fully protected by the law.

How to act in case of injury? 

Even if you get injured due to negligence, you still need to prove that the university is responsible. So, this is the ideal course of action you should take:

• First off, after suffering an injury, you should look around for potential witnesses. Take their numbers and statements. Ideally, you should do it as soon as possible while their memory is fresh
• Take photos/videos of the scene. Put emphasis on elements that caused the injury (faulty staircases, ramps, and things of that sort)
• Go to the nearby clinic for a checkup. Get an official report that would corroborate the extent of your injuries
• Get in touch with a lawyer. Nowadays, you have specialized professionals for all sorts of injuries, such as bicycle and pedestrian accident lawyer, slip and fall lawyer, maritime injury lawyer, dog bite lawyer, and so on. Hire the one that’s ideal for your specific situation 
• Start working on your case and try to be realistic about the college’s involvement. Specifically, you shouldn’t involve the university if the accident was mainly caused by your error.

By following these steps, you can ensure that you’re properly taken care of. This is especially important in case of a bigger injury that requires prolonged care and expensive medication and therapy.