When a visitor steps onto your company's property, you hold some level of responsibility towards their injury risks. It can seem frustrating when someone suffers an injury, and you had no way to prevent it from occurring. This is why you have general liability insurance. It works to provide a safety net for anyone who suffers an injury on your property that is not the owner or an employee. When should you file a claim?
What Happened Matters
One of the most important steps a business owner can take is knowing how to react and handle incidents like these. Mistakes here are costly in the long term. In most cases, your goal is to ensure the space people walk through and interact with is safe. Some common causes of injury include:
- Pulling heavy items off top shelves
- Slipping on wet floors
- Tripping over items in aisles
- Falling in parking lots due to ice
- Hurting the back by picking items up improperly
You may ask - how can you prevent these risks from occurring? It takes a lot of effort to do so in some cases, but not in others. For example, keeping wet floor signs around when floors are wet can offer some limitation on your liability. That's a relatively simple test.
Don't store items on shelves that are heavy. And, encourage customers or visitors to avoid picking up items. Even in these situations, you may have some instances of injury claims.
When Will Insurance Help?
Your general liability insurance handles just about all the process here for you. When someone falls, help that individual. Leave the area as it is. Take photos of it. Photograph warning signs you have in place that the individual failed to heed, if applicable. Then, contact your agent. Never admit guilt or promise to pay a visitor for injuries. Let your agent handle the entire process.
The liability insurance agent uses the information you have to determine if an act of negligence occurred. They may tell the customer they cannot process a claim if there is no evidence to support it. In other cases, they may send a settlement amount to the individual. In all cases, it is out of the business owner's hands at this time. That's a good thing. Insurance companies have attorneys to handle this matter for you. They represent you in a court of all as well.
General liability insurance covers losses to anyone who steps foot on your property. This includes visitors, customers, associates, and in some cases, people who should not be there. Contact an agent at The Louisiana Insurance Center today to learn how to minimize losses.
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