Ever wonder why you see so many billboards advertising personal injury law firms? Because it’s a big business! Total revenues for injury law firms were $35 billion last year. That’s 1.75 times the total worldwide revenues for McDonald’s in 2018. The average personal injury lawyer makes $237,000 a year, making them the second highest paid attorneys behind intellectual property attorneys.
From where does all this money come? Potentially you.
If one of your customers or employees suffers a mishap on your property, there’s a good chance you’ll be hearing from a personal injury lawyer. If the accident happened at night, he’d allege that it was due to poor lighting. I know because this happened to one of my clients. Spoiler alert — we refuted and beat this claim for our customer.
So, how do you defend yourself from this? Better yet, how can you help prevent these mishaps in the first place? By following these two simple steps.
- Check and update your lighting to meet or exceed the minimum regulatory standard.
- Maintain your lighting at or above the minimum standard.
So how do you do this?
- Ask your lighting contractor to measure your property for regulatory compliance using a light meter. For example, in parking lots in the US, the minimum allowance is 0.2 foot-candles or 0.5 foot-candles in higher risk areas. It should read at or above the standard no matter where placed. If it falls below, have it fixed immediately.
- When upgrading your lighting to LED, insist on a photometric design that meets or exceeds the regulatory compliance.
- Maintain your lights regularly. The customer mentioned above was on a Planned Lighting Maintenance program which helped us prove that their lighting was well maintained.
- Maintain your lighting completely. If a light is out, have it repaired immediately. If you don’t think you can afford the repair, how are you going to handle a lawsuit?
As I write this, I can see a personal injury lawyer billboard through the window. Let’s make America beautiful by drying up the sources of funding for these ads.
To find out more about commercial lighting service and what makes Lighting Technologies better than other lighting contractors, click here.
Ask how Lighting Technologies can help you ensure that your lighting meets or exceeds the standard. Call us at (678) 945-0467 or send us an online request and a sales rep will get back to you within one business day.
“Save your energy. We’ll take care of it!
