Premises liability is a section of personal injury law that covers injuries that happen to people on your premises. That can be a house or your business. There are some qualifications for who can bring that personal injury suit, but generally, if someone gets hurt on your property, you have to pay for it. You can put some safety measures in place that will keep your business safe from that risk, and here are just a few of them.
1- Training
One of the measures you can implement is training your employees. The training will teach them to recognize hazards and how to handle them safely. The training should also cover how to handle the situation if someone gets hurt on your property, and what they need to do. You should periodically have refresher courses so that everyone stays current with the newest procedures, as well as training new hires.
2- Regular Maintenance
Doing regular maintenance on your property can help keep everything in proper working order. Regular maintenance can include ensuring that machinery is functioning properly, so things like escalators, doors, and elevators don’t break down. It can also include making sure that snow and ice are properly cleared, as well as icicles or signage being posted warning people about falling ice. Doing that maintenance and keeping records covers you in a legal case because your lawyer can pull out those records in court.
3- Insurance Coverage
You may not think that carrying the right insurance coverage is a safety measure, but it really is. That’s because your insurance can help fight your case for you. They can also cover some or all of the financial costs surrounding the incident. That can help keep your business from losing significant value or going bankrupt because of a personal injury suit.
4- Security
Security can help you in a couple of different ways. One is that security can physically bar people from going to areas they aren’t allowed to visit. Another is that cameras can catch anything that happens. If someone gets hurt and the cameras record it, you will be able to rewind the footage and look at what precisely happened. If you have good security in place, you may also get a discount on your insurance.
5- Risk Evaluation
You can hire a safety company to come to your business and do an evaluation of your business. They will check everything out and tell you what needs to be done to keep everyone safe while they are on your premises. Having an expert do an evaluation means they will check the things you wouldn’t even think to check. Depending on what the professionals recommend, they may be able to install or implement the suggested measures.
Keeping your business safe from premises liability suits is important. A personal injury lawsuit could cause your business to go bankrupt, so it just makes legal and fiscal sense to do everything you can to ensure everyone’s safety. Following a few simple suggestions will make putting those measures into place.