The Dangers of Laundry Chutes

Many homes across the country, as well as numerous hotels, are equipped with laundry chutes to make it easier to transport dirty clothes, sheets, and other linens from an upper floor of the structure to the basement or laundry area. These laundry chutes make it much easier to move clothes and other fabrics from the upper floors to the laundry area but come with a number of dangers and hazards.

Laundry chutes can be dangerous to children and to pets. Young children in particular might be able to fit inside of a laundry chute. If they can fit in the entry, they can most likely fit in the chute itself. This could lead to the child falling into the chute and then travelling all the way down to the laundry area. If there is not a pile of clothes below the chute, the child can be seriously hurt when landing on the hard floor. Pets are also at a risk as they too can fall in the laundry chute.

Hotel chutes are also dangerous. These chutes are frequently much larger and much longer than those found in homes. This makes sense since a hotel can be any number of floors taller than an ordinary house. In the majority of instances, if a person climbs into a hotel laundry chute and is hurt, he or she is not going to be able to collect much from the hotel. However, if the chute is not kept in a way that prevents people from falling in, there is a possibility that a claim could be made.

Another danger of laundry chutes is that they can trap clothes inside. When the clothes are trapped inside, they don’t ever get clean. This could encourage someone to climb into the chute or to lean in to the point that falling in is possible.

Just like stairs, laundry chutes should be treated with care and caution. Children should not be allowed to be around the laundry chute unsupervised either.

Contact a Harrisburg Premises Liability Lawyer

If you have been injured on private property, contact the Harrisburg premises liability lawyers of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. at 610-667-7511.