Reducing Your Risk of a Public Liability Claim

Even though it’s not legally required, this insurance can be crucial. This is because it could protect your business financially in the event of a claim. However, how can you go about reducing your risk of a public liability claim?

Identifying potential risks

When running a business, your focus is normally on the prosperity of your company, staff morale or new and innovative ways to increase profits. However, it is essential that you equally prioritise the need to identify, adapt to and assess the potential risks created from your business activities - both to staff, customers and the general public.

Even the simplest missed hazards or seemingly simple claims which are made against your business activities can incur substantial legal costs and compensation costs. The costs to remove or reduce the risks can actually be far less than these legal and compensation costs.

Slips, trips and falls can be caused by the smallest things, such as an uneven pavement or step; debris; obstructive objects; or spilt liquids. Falling objects because of insecure shelving or incorrect stacking can also pose a risk to any members of the public on your business’s property.

Looking out for potential hazards and understanding the risks are a key stage in safeguarding your business against claims.

Conducting regular risk assessments

This is our step-by-step guide to conducting a simple risk assessment. Follow the steps to ensure your business is as safe and hazard-free as possible for the public.

1. Identify hazards

Inspect your property and its surrounding areas for possible hazards. These include but aren’t limited to:

• Wet or slippery flooring
• Uneven flooring
• Damaged areas
• Sharp corners or edges
• Chemical exposure

2. Assess risk

Determine how risky the hazards you discover are. Mark them as high, medium or low. This is key in the process of handling them in the correct order.

3. Create a plan

Develop a plan to deal with the hazards you have discovered in an appropriate order. You’ll naturally want to deal with the hazards that pose the highest risk first, identifying safety measures you can take to resolve them.

4. Implement safety measures

Safety measures don’t always come in the form of manual labour, such as fixing or cleaning. It can also be implemented through employee training, as well as appropriate signage and personal protective equipment (PPE). Fostering a culture of safety within your organisation can lead to better compliance and risk reduction overall.

5. Monitor and review

Be sure to constantly reassess your safety measures and conduct regular hazard searches. It’s also a great idea to involve employees throughout for their insights — there’s a good chance they may spot things that you miss, and the more eyes on the prize the better!

Maintaining property and equipment

An important part of keeping your company safe and out of the crosshairs of public liability compensation claims is properly maintaining your property and any equipment you have. When things break down or are left to rot and rust, hazards can quickly appear.

A great way of staying on top of this is to keep maintenance schedules that ensure the upkeep or replacement of key fixtures or equipment. This schedule should include inspection, repair and record keeping. Some companies like to use coloured tags to show the condition of equipment so that the next inspector can easily review and update it.

Effective incident reporting and response

You can promote a safer workplace by implementing a clear reporting process that allows your employees to record hazards, potential hazards and incidents. You could do this by establishing an honesty box or a specific email address for your employees to report to.

Responding to this reporting is essential for the system to prevail, as when hazards are dealt with, employees will have more faith in further reporting.

Reviewing and updating insurance policies

By regularly reviewing and updating your insurance policies, you can ensure they provide the appropriate coverage to protect your business from public liability claims. Be sure to schedule annual or more frequent reviews if your business expands, increases its public interaction or takes on new equipment.

By talking to experts in the insurance field, you can get key advice, update policies or arrange new ones to ensure you have appropriate protection in place.

Public liability insurance from Towergate

Public liability coverage can be an incredibly valuable insurance product that protects your business from significant financial risk.

Our public liability insurance safeguards against potential legal and financial losses arising from accidents or defective products.

Public liability insurance from Towergate

Public liability coverage can be an incredibly valuable insurance product that protects your business from significant financial risk.

Our public liability insurance safeguards against potential legal and financial losses arising from accidents or defective products.

Get a public liability insurance quote

Before you look for quotes for this type of cover, determine the amount of coverage your business is likely to need as best you can. Then get in touch with us for an accurate public liability insurance quote either online or by phone on 0330 818 9929.

About the author

Alison Wild BCom (Hons), FMAAT, MATT, Taxation Technician is a highly respected industry professional who has been working with and advising SMEs in areas including tax, pensions, insurance and marketing for over 25 years. She is a member of the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) and Association of Tax Technicians (ATT) and also has 20 years' experience as a residential landlord.

Consistent with our policy when giving comment and advice on a non-specific basis, we cannot assume legal responsibility for the accuracy of any particular statement. In the case of specific problems we recommend that professional advice be sought.