Owning a business is a tremendous responsibility. On top of maintaining your normal business operations to stay profitable, it is also your duty to make sure that any properties you own are safe for people to visit. Premises liability is an area of the law that impacts your position as a business owner. Although laws can vary somewhat from one state to the next, the general purpose of premises liability laws is to govern personal injury cases that arise from accidents on another person’s property.
Since your business likely has a constant flow of people visiting the property, it’s essential to understand how to prevent accidents at your company. Taking a look at how premises liability laws could impact a case can also help you know the steps to take if an accident occurs despite your best efforts toward prevention.
Understand Your Legal Duties
Business owners are expected to adhere to the standards of providing a duty of care to people who visit the property. According to premises liability laws, you may not be responsible for every injury that occurs on your company’s grounds. Typically, liability is determined by how the owner’s duty of care is impacted by a visitor’s status.
For instance, invitees are a category that includes people who have come to your property to do business. Naturally, a restaurant or boutique patron would expect you to want them about any hazards on the property or do your best to eliminate them.
Meanwhile, a licensee is someone who has permission to visit your property. They are there for their own purposes, which might not allow you to issue them a warning like you would a direct customer.
Trespassers are the final category, and this includes individuals who visit your property without permission. Since these people aren’t supposed to be on your property, the law typically allows owners to owe them the least amount of care.
However, you’ll want to keep in mind that some jurisdictions could still hold you liable for not maintaining your property, or you might be required to follow specific standards of care to keep trespassers from trying to access an attractive nuisance, such as a swimming pool.
Watch Out for Common Hazards and Liability Issues
Premises liability laws are based on the concept that most accidents are preventable. Although you can’t protect everyone from an unforeseen natural weather event, you can do your best to clear your property of ice or snow.
Many injuries on commercial properties happen when people fall on wet or slippery surfaces. Teaching your employees to promptly clean up spills and use warning signs are two simple things that you can include in your business plan to minimize the chances of experiencing a personal injury lawsuit.
Focusing on prompt maintenance and repairs is another thing you can do avoid having people get hurt on your property. For example, you might need to hire a maintenance team that fixes small issues that arise during the course of doing business. Fixing a broken handrail or replacing a light bulb are small efforts that have a big impact on how many slip-and-fall accidents occur.
Your business might also benefit from a boost to the security plans. Installing cameras can help to prove whether or not someone’s claims of an accident are true. You can also expect to see fewer trespassers when people know they might get caught on camera. In-person security guards can also watch for hazards, such as a water leak on a hard floor, to further keep people safe.
Be Proactive About Protecting Your Business
Considering that the average slip-and-fall accident case settlement ranges anywhere from $10,000 to $150,000, the financial impact of personal injuries on your business can be substantial. Doing your due diligence can pay off when you are able to prove that your company did its best to prevent common injury causes.
Conducting regular inspections that you document using reports and checklists is one effective way to prove that your company is doing its due diligence. If you need to perform routine maintenance or repairs, then keeping detailed records can further serve as evidence of your business upholding its responsibilities. Creating hazard mitigation plans for the employees to follow also helps to quickly address safety issues before they lead to accidents.
Have a Plan in Place for Handling Accidents on Your Property
Every business should have a clear plan in place for creating and handling incident reports. On top of using these reports for working with your commercial insurance company, you can also use them to gather information to provide to your attorney.
Knowing the time and date of the incident can help uncover evidence that could include video footage or witness reports that could aid in your company’s defense. Since premises liability laws also require visitors to commercial properties to do their best to avoid accidents, being able to gather as many details regarding what happened as possible can have a major impact on your case.
Although not every accident is preventable, you have lots of ways to uphold your responsibility to keep your business property safe and in good condition. While safeguards can help to prevent many accidents, it’s also important to act quickly at the first sign of a potential injury that falls within your property lines. Reaching out to an experienced business law attorney can help you immediately begin putting together a plan that helps you achieve the best possible outcome for a claim.
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