3 Ways To Reduce Your Premises Liability Exposure In Winter

Winter brings a higher risk of premises liability cases with it for business owners. It's just a fact of doing business. From increased hazards from ice and snow, to dangers from crowds that resemble angry mobs during the Black Friday shopping frenzy, there are a lot of ways a person can get injured when out and about in the world this time of year. You are at increased risk during the holiday and winter months if you are a business owner. Naturally, you want to keep your customers safe, and you want to avoid potentially costly lawsuits. If you do get sued, your best defense is to hire a good attorney to prove you did all you could to create safe conditions for customers at your business. Of course, the best thing to do is to avoid those lawsuits in the first place. Here are three ways you can reduce your premises liability exposure at your business during the winter months.

1. Remember, Customer Safety Is Your Responsibility

As a business owner, safety is down to you. This applies to customers as well as employees. It also applies to the outside of your building as well as the inside. Essentially, if someone is on property you own, be it land or a structure, their safety is your concern.

Of course, there are times when you could not have foreseen a particular hazard, the hazard was impossible for you to notice, or you did not have enough reasonable time to fix it before someone got injured. These things will be your best legal defense if a case goes to court, and your attorney will work hard to prove the injury was something you could not have prevented.

Your responsibility only extends to things you can reasonably be expected to handle. What constitutes "reasonably" is up to each individual court. Your goal is to not be found negligent. Most injury claim awards are made because the owner of the building was found to be negligent in getting the hazard repaired.

2. Do Daily Inspections of the Inside and Outside of Your Building

According to Nationwide, daily safety inspections of your building and premises are a must. Check for wet floors, look at the snow and ice situation in the parking lot, and make sure there are no cables or other tripping hazards in your building.

If you see something that can be fixed right away, such as snow and ice removal, do it. It it is something that will need time to repair, such as a pothole in the parking lot or a spill on the floor, cordon off the area with hazard tape, cones, and signs, then fix it as soon as you are able.

Conduct checks throughout the day during the winter, as people can track snow into the building when they enter it. This snow will melt, and can cause a slip and fall hazard. Keep records and photos of your daily safety checks in case you need them in court later. You can use them to prove you did all you could to promote safety.

3. Install Extra Safety Devices

Anything you can do to increase safety in and around your building is always a good thing. While removing or isolating hazards will help reduce your liability, taking extra steps to ensure customer and employee safety will make your case even stronger if you end up in court.

A great way to start is by adding rubber mats to employee and customer entrances. The mats will assist in removing snow from the bottoms of shoes before it can get on a slick floor and melt. Putting down non-slip rugs, and even area carpeting in heavily trafficked areas inside is also a wonderful safety measure.

You can also hire a company to plow your parking lot several times a day and put down sand or salt when it is actively snowing. All of these things will give your employees and customers added protection, and will reduce your premises liability during the winter.

Conclusion

While winter brings additional hazards that can increase your exposure to premises liability lawsuits, you can minimize this risk. All you need to do is follow these tips during the cold and snowy months.

You may not escape a lawsuit, even if you've done your very best to keep everyone in and around your building safe. However, your chances of winning one of these lawsuits will be greatly increased if you follow this advice and have an expert injury claims attorney from a site like http://www.attorneyinjury.com/ at your side in court.