As a snow contractor, the possibility of a slip and fall on one of your properties is always on your mind. Obviously, every precaution must be taken to ensure the safety of clients and those on their sites. But what documentation do you need to protect yourself against a slip and fall claim? Being prepared can make the process a lot smoother, less stressful and less costly.
Never too much
Slip and fall readiness and the ability to defend yourself in the event of a claim starts and stops at good documentation. In this case, there’s no such thing as too much information and there’s no substitute for being prepared.
The struggle for most owners is that they have difficulty differentiating between defending themselves from a claim and being operationally efficient. Here’s the deal: the documentation you should be gathering does not make your operation more efficient. In fact, it makes things harder. Your employees may not love you, but your adjuster and lawyer will!
And in the event of a claim, you will be very, very thankful you took the time to document your process.
Get your team involved
Creating a culture of liability prevention and hazard identification only happens when it’s done intentionally. And it needs to involve the whole team. Teach your staff about slip and fall prevention and about liability. Instruct them on what to look for and train them to look not only for hazards, but also for the causes of those hazards (e.g., if ice keeps forming in a particular spot, then identify the cause and determine if it is possible to address the cause rather than to just keep salting the icy patch). Tailgate talks are a great way to teach your staff and remind them what to watch out for.
The reality is that you will very likely get a slip and fall claim at some point if you haven’t already. Put your mind at ease by creating a system that helps prevent slip and falls but that also protects you and your company in the event one happens.
Key claims documentation
- Service records for vehicles and equipment, showing that they’re well maintained.
- Follow-up emails for when a property manager or owner gives you direction that may impact your liability later. For example, you may be instructed to not service a certain area of the property. Send a follow-up email that outlines the instruction you’ve been given. In the event of a slip and fall, you can refer to this and limit your liability.
- Written job descriptions for each position in the organization. This is helpful for many reasons, but it also shows that you and your staff know your responsibilities.
- Pre-storm communication to property owners or managers. For example, send an email prior to an event containing the current forecast and your plan of action. This should set service expectations, and remind clients to be careful and wear proper footwear for the weather.
- Accurate salt recording for all services. Record actual, quantifiable amounts of materials used, including bagged and bulk materials.
- Site camera records if you use them. If you’re not using site cameras, you should consider it. Site cameras can be invaluable for both operational and claims purposes.
- Equipment and vehicle GPS records.
- Digital time sheets showing service start/end times with before and after photos, if possible.
- Calibration records, showing that this is done annually (at a minimum).
- Screen shots or printouts of the forecasts you relied on to mobilize for a weather event. This forecasted information will not be available again, so record it. You can always look back and get information about what happened weather-wise, but in order to show the forecasted information you based the plan on you need to keep a copy.
- Separate documentation for patrol and active weather events. Active weather events are those to which you respond based on active weather. Patrol is when sites are monitored between weather events for potential hazards.
- Job-specific field staff training. There are a lot of great online training platforms that will record and document your staff training and ensure that employees are receiving the right training for their roles.
- Preseason inspection reports for each property every year.
- Site maps that clearly identify (at a minimum) where to pile snow, catch basins, handicap spots, emergency doors, priority areas, pedestrian access routes, hours of operation and the order of serviced areas.
Grant Harrison is president of Nextra Consulting, based in Ingersoll, Ontario. Contact him at 519-868-6398 or www.nextraconsulting.ca.