How to Protect Your Small Business from Slip-and-Fall Injury Lawsuits

Slip-and-fall accidents are some of the injuries that may occur on your small business premises. A customer that falls and injures himself or herself on your properly can hold you responsible if your negligence led to his or her injuries. Therefore, you need to take the right measures to keep your customers safe. Here are four practical measures that can help:

Clean after Hours

Cleaning is one of the tasks that contribute to slip-and-fall accidents. A slippery, newly mopped floor and the disorganization that comes with cleaning can easily trip your customers. Therefore, it's best to clean your premises after closing. That way you don't have to worry about blocked pathways or other things that may trip your customers.

Cordon and Label Dangerous Areas

Despite your best measures, certain areas on your premises may be hazardous. For example, it may be difficult to carry out all renovation work after hours. In such a case, protect your customers by getting the work done in stages so that you can cordon off the affected areas. In addition to cordoning them off, put up warning signs so that the customers will know to keep away from those areas.

Hire Qualified People

As a small business owner, you are probably trying to do everything to save money and grow your business. However, this shouldn't lead you to cut corners by hiring quacks or using subpar materials and tools. For example, when you hire an unskilled contractor to renovate your stairway and use substandard materials, then the end product may cause falls if it isn't properly constructed.

React Fast

Another factor that matters is how fast you react when an accident occurs on your premises and raises the probability of falling. Consider an example in which a freak storm breaks the windows and floods the floor. You need to react fast and deal with the flooding so that it doesn't put your customers in danger. Don't forget that you have a duty of care (to your customers) to deal with such things within a reasonable time frame, and a breach of this duty may lead to a lawsuit if it causes injuries.

Absolute prevention of accidents may not be possible, which is why you need liability or casualty insurance. A personal injury lawsuit can cripple your business if you don't have the right coverage. Talk to an insurance company or agent so that you don't have to lose money when an accident happens and you get sued. Find more advice at a website like http://www.dki-ins.com.