During the overnight hours, a female tripped and fell in a commercial parking lot during the course of her job as a newspaper delivery person. She claimed that there was insufficient lighting in the parking lot at the time of her fall, that the lighting did not meet code standards, and that the building owner therefore failed to eliminate a foreseeable hazard.
ARCCA’s expert conducted inspections of the parking lot during both daylight and night-time hours.
He researched the lighting code requirements for the township, county and state where the incident occurred to determine whether the illumination levels in the parking lot were in compliance.
He took three sets of illumination measurements at various locations in the parking lot, including the exit discharge area.
In addition to his research, ARCCA’s expert analyzed all causative factors in this case in the context of the laws of physics, fundamental principles of human movement biomechanics and human factors, good engineering design practices, standards, and building codes. His final determination was that the lighting in the exit discharge area of the parking lot met the 1.0 foot candle code requirements in place for that location and therefore did not constitute an unreasonably hazardous condition.