How to Protect Your Business from Premise Liability
Whether you have a business or a home, you have to make sure your property is safe for visitors as a legal obligation. The premises law addresses various types of accidents. For instance, one could slip on a wet floor or fall over something left in your yard and file an application to try to get compensation for their injury.
Types of Premises Liability Instances
The following are included in the area of liabilities for business premises:
• Escalator and elevator accidents
• Inadequate maintenance of the facilities
• Water leaks or floods
• Imperfect conditions
• Inadequate safety causing exacerbation and harm
• Falls and slips
• Chemicals or toxic fumes
• Fire
From the above, it is clear that premises liability includes a wide variety of causes for which you, as a business owner, maybe charged in an accident event. The unfortunate thing is that you, as the business owner or tenant, are responsible for the premises liability claim the moment the premises have been rented to you.
Therefore, it is even more critical to ensure maximum security and protection of your facilities to avoid personal injury to both visitors, customers, reviewers, lawyers, and employees. The following are some tips on preventing premises liability cases to help you stay away from potentially costly lawsuits.
Prevention of Premises Liability
If you own a business, you are required to keep your property in reasonably safe conditions. Being active when it gets to premises liability can prevent substantial hassles.
The first thing in avoiding premises liability cases should be talking with your insurance provider and having them come to your place to look around. They will guide you on probable problem areas; they will also help ensure your employees’ and visitors’ safety.
Consider setting regular cleaning arrangements so your workers can look for potential problems like remains or spilled drinks on the floor. Have a detailed record of these arrangements so that if someone tries to sue you, you can show that you took the necessary steps to eliminate all vulnerabilities on your property. In terms of the law, this might be proof that you had “reasonable care” to prevent harm from occurring.
At your main business door, post signs stating that no food or drink is allowed inside. This doesn’t certainly mean that clients haven’t brought them to your store yet, but it shows that you took the precaution to avoid accident incidences.
An additional necessary precaution you can take is to check how your products are displayed. For instance, there may be several boxes placed too high and could fall and injure someone. Items placed on higher shelves might also fall over.
Also, check your floors carefully. Inspect for broken tiling that could catch one’s shoe or any extended ridge that someone might fall over.
In Occurrence of an Accident
Unfortunately, an accident might still occur despite how many measures you may take to avoid premises liability circumstances. If someone gets injured at your premises due to a slip on your floor, please make a detailed and accurate account of the event. Take a close look at details, for instance, the type of shoes the harmed person is wearing and the floor condition. For example, they may be wearing a slippery kind of shoe that might have led to the fall.
Staying active about your premises’ safety helps you prevent injuries and can diminish or even avoid premises claims against you.
Conclusion
It should be clear that if it is your business, it is your obligation. Therefore, be aware of potentially hazardous conditions at your premises and quickly fix the situation before any coincidence occurs.
