Minimising Customer Injury Risk – Personal Injury Claim

Customer personal injury claims can be costly and very damaging to an establishment’s reputation. They can be much more frequent than employee claims. Employee safety programmes are not sufficient to protect customers, who are more at risk for accidents than employees for three main reasons:

1. Customers expect the establishment to be safe.
2. Groups like children and the elderly are predisposed to injury.
3. Customers do not receive safety training

Your Liability

You are required to maintain safe premises for your customers. In legal terms, you have a high duty of care. This includes the duty to warn customers of non-obvious, dangerous conditions that you know about, to use ordinary care in active operations in the business, and to make reasonable inspections to discover dangerous conditions and make them safe. Most customer accidents are preventable, so it is important to take steps to make your premises safer and less exposed to the risk of customer injury and litigation.

Common Injuries

Common injuries that could become your liability include:

• Slips and falls as a result of wet floors, torn carpets, poor lighting or stairways. This type of injury is extremely common.
• Head and body injuries from falling objects, displays, out-of-reach objects or other mishaps.
• Overcrowding injuries, such as trampling
• Car park injuries as a result of cracked, poor design/layout or failure to remove ice or snow.

Detecting Fraud

Criminal accident teams can stage injuries, targeting several businesses in the same area. This fraud could cost you millions of pounds in unwarranted payouts. As the only broker in Northern Ireland with its own dedicated accident investigation division, Willis IRM can proactively assist businesses should an incident give rise to a claim.

Transfer Risk

Liability insurance addresses the cost of legal damages and claims up to policy limits. Work with Willis Insurance & Risk Management to design the liability package that fits your business—you will be able to select from a wide range of cover options that you can tailor for your unique needs.

Anticipating Risk

Willis IRMs Health & Safety team proactively review businesses procedures to ensure protection of employees. As a leader in the field of Health and Safety in Ireland, Willis IRMs Consulting division can provide organisations with the assistance they need to stay on top of their legal and moral obligations. Contact Louise McMahon for all your Hospitality and Leisure Risk Management needs on 028 9032 9042 or louisem@willisinsurance.co.uk for more information on managing your establishment’s risks.