Establishing and maintaining a business is often part of the American Dream. Working for yourself, building a legacy, and growing your company can be challenging, and you often must open a brick-and-mortar office or retail location as part of your business model. At the same time, these facilities bring about even greater challenges that can turn out to be quite costly.
The following tips will help you protect your business from premises liability claims, especially when you host a significant amount of foot traffic every day.
What is a Premises Liability Claim?
The law states that you have a “duty of care” to provide a safe environment to employees, customers and visitors. If you are found to be negligent of correcting known hazards, you may be liable for a person’s injuries. Use these steps to protect your visitors and staff when they enter the facility. In other words, anyone who is injured on the premises has a right to call into question your maintenance and management of the building or property.
Protection From Premises Liability Claims
The most immediate protection you can get from a premises liability claim is an insurance policy. Commercial insurance policies are often written to protect against premises liability claims, allowing for payment of medical expenses and damages. If you believe that your business is especially susceptible to these claims, you may require an umbrella policy that can extend the limits of your coverage far into the millions.
In like manner, you must work to prevent these claims from ever occurring.
Preventing Premises Liability Claims
As a business owner or manager, you must take several steps to prevent premises liability claims on your property.
- Comply with all OSHA regulations for your industry.
- Comply with additional regulations imposed by the municipality in which you operate.
- Add handrails to all stairs.
- Consider installing gripping surfaces to all stairs or other floors that can easily become slick or wet.
- Require the use of hard hats, boots, or even steel-toed footwear, if necessary.
- Require the use of protective goggles or face masks, if needed.
- Regularly train your staff in workplace safety best practices.
- Clearly label all areas that could be dangerous, asking your staff or visitors to exercise caution.
- Make certain areas of your facility off-limits to visitors for their own safety.
- Routinely inspect the facility to ensure all safety guidelines are followed.
- Ask that all visitors be escorted onto the premises by a staff member.
- Require all visitors to sign in and out/wear a visitor badge, indicating to your staff the areas that each guest may access.
You are free to adapt these tips to your business/facility, depending on the nature of your operation. You should also update these guidelines over time, with an understanding that changes should be made as dangers in your industry or area change.
Reporting Incidents
Even though you have taken all these steps, you may be faced with a situation in which an incident occurs. Plus, your staff may be asked to step in and respond to or report incidents. As such, you should establish a response and reporting procedure:
- Clearly post your incident response plan throughout the facility.
- Call 911 in the event of an emergency.
- Report all incidents with the aid of a manager, foreman, or supervisor.
- Clearly record all the aspects of the incident to protect your business, including photographic and video evidence.
- Do not admit liability or share extra information with someone who has been involved in an incident. Instead, speak with your attorney or general counsel and reach out to your insurance carrier.
- Do not be afraid to change your safety protocols in the wake of an incident.
Protect Your Business Today
While one never wants to experience an incident at work, you should be quite certain that you are doing everything possible to protect your business from premises liability claims. Purchase a quality insurance policy, take the proper safety measures, report incidents faithfully, and adjust your safety plans as needed. The long-term success of your business depends on these stringent levels of protection so that you can care for your staff and leave a legacy behind for the future generations of your family.
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