Question: Resident car washing creates unsafe wet areas. Residents sometimes use electricity in these areas to vacuum their cars. Is the body corporate responsible if this results in injury?
When residents wash their car in the car park, the area stays wet and they use their vacuum cleaner on the wet surfaces. Should the committee be managing these situations. I feel residents are left to their own devices.
We also have some residents who water plants and the footpaths stay wet. There is no approved voluntary work.
Who is responsible if any injury occurs on the common property due to these unsafe practices?
Answer: Personal injury claims can be very costly to a BC and we have seen many result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation.
This can be a tricky one. Many surfaces are treated with non-slip coatings or additives to assist in slip resistance when wet and may be the case within your scheme (parking areas, pathways etc).
In regards to the vacuum lead being a trip hazard, this is difficult to assess unless at the time of an inspection it is in use but in an ideal world, no loose leads should be left across a path of travel.
If, however, you believe the surfaces are dangerously slippery when wet, the owners may vote to have an independent slip test conducted (usually termed a pendulum slip test) to determine the resistance of the surface when wet.
If shown to be dangerous, the owners may wish to look at installing drainage options to ensure adequate water management directing water safely out of the building.
We have seen many Bodies Corporate create a dedicated carwash bay in the carpark equipped with nice, suitable box drains around it to capture all water run off, soap etc. It also solves the issue of the vacuum lead crossing common paths of travel and being a tripping hazard. This is always a recommended endeavour and adds to the service offering a BC has for its residents and potential new owners.
To answer your query on responsibility after an injury, in most (not all) instances, the body corporate will have a claim made against it for the liability. Personal injury claims can be very costly to a BC and we have seen many result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation.
It is this reason why we recommend an annual safety audit to try and prevent many of these incidents occurring or at least limit the BCs liability by taking some reasonable measures to minimise injury (e.g. signage, designated bays etc).
This post appears in Strata News #485.
Dakota Panetta Solutions in Engineering E: dakotap@solutionsinengineering.com P: 1300 136 036