4 Ways to Avoid Slips and Falls This Winter

4 Ways to Avoid Slips and Falls This Winter

Winter snow and ice can be treacherous. People face serious health risks when passing through uncleared areas, and businesses face serious liability risks as a result.

According to Zurich Insurance Group, one in every four slip and fall claim is a direct result of uncleared snow and ice. In fact, the average claim for a customer slip and fall claim is just over $15,000; the same for employees is more than $35,000.*

So what can commercial property owners do today in order to both help protect the health and safety of their customers as well as protect themselves? Here are four ways to start:

Document Everything

Taking time stamped photos of your site conditions, before the time of service and after all your snow and ice is cleared, can show you made your best effort to make the parking lots and sidewalks as safe as possible when the storm hit.

You’ll also want a detailed record of all your snow and ice management services to, once again, show you took the reasonable steps to keep your locations clean.

Review Your Provider Insurance

In some cases, not only is the business owner liable, but so is the provider who serviced the location. Confirming that every service provider you hire is properly insured helps establish that the service provider will be able to cover their liability. Review the insurance requirements of all vendors in your network.

If you work with a maintenance company to handle snow and ice management across all your locations, ask them how they track insurance for their provider network to make sure they align with customer expectations. You should also expect that they have additional insurance themselves.

Document All Storms

Having a historic record of all winter storms that resulted in snow or ice will help fight claims. You should be able to look back at any date and determine the amount of snowfall or ice that accumulated across your locations.

Plus, this weather data should tie back to your record or services, including timestamps, to prove that measures were taken within a reasonable time to remove the snow or ice.

Conduct a Proper Scope of Work

You may schedule snow and ice removal, but for how long and at what frequency? Working with an expert like Lessen will give you the clearest lens into what you need according to the level of foot traffic at your locations.

The higher the foot traffic, the more aggressive scope of work. For example, if you live in a more rural location, the scope of work might be less. The reason: even though it may snow more, the foot traffic is likely much less than urban locations. Understanding what you need before winter strikes will ultimately save you money.

Contact Lessen

With the proper steps, you can help keep your locations safe for both your employees and customers. But in the case that you do find yourself with a slip and fall claim, it’s important to proactively track the right information. At Lessen, we track this information to help you mitigate your claims. Plus, we maintain a comprehensive insurance policy to make sure you’re always covered.

* SIMA, Snow and Ice Management Association, Advanced Snow Management Best Practices, (p 11) citing statistics by Zurich Insurance North America.