Tag Archives for " Liability Insurance "

Preventing Slip and Fall Incidents at Your Home or Business

We may not get much ice in Central Florida, but many other potential hazards can cause someone to slip and fall at your house or your office. In Central Florida we also have a large elderly population who are all potential fall victims, steps must be taken to keep them from falling. Prevention is the key to eliminating slip and fall hazards and preventing serious injury from occurring due to negligence. Here are a few ways that you can make both your home or business safe from slip hazards:

Tips for Preventing Slip and Fall Accidents

• If a slippery substance such as oil, grease, or a household cleaner spills at your home or business, it should be cleaned up right away. As you undertake cleanup, be sure that adequate signage is used to alert customers, employees, or family that a slip hazard is in the area. 
• Regular inspections and cleaning of high traffic areas or work areas where oil and grease are used should be made.
• Make sure there is sufficient lighting around your home, in parking lots, on sidewalks, walkways, and in stairwells to ensure they are visible. LED lights are best for commercial settings because they light a wider area and act as a deterrent for crime.
• Bunched carpet, loose tiles, and uneven flooring can all cause someone to trip and should be repaired.
• Potholes that are not filled present a hazard where someone could twist or break an ankle, or they could fall and break a bone.
• Water that runs into a parking area can quickly become slippery, and the source of the runoff should be dealt with to prevent any slipping.

Stairs and Ramps

• Handrails are an effective way to prevent the disabled and elderly from falling.  Installed securely in stairways, ramps, halls, and bathrooms they can help people to have a sense of independence while at the same time eliminating the potential for a fall.
• Broken or loose steps in a stairwell is a recipe for a lawsuit if someone falls due disrepair.
• Make sure that stairwells are lit well and have something that will increase friction such as carpet or non-slip treads.

Lawn Areas

• Make sure lawn areas are kept mowed to 7 inches or less so that hidden items such as a sprinkler or tree roots are visible.
• Don’t leave old toys, tools, or portable sprinkles on the lawn, so they do not become trip hazards.
• Make sure to keep lawn areas and the exterior of homes free of stinging insects like wasps so that customers or family members are not stung.

Walkways

• Clear your walkways of ladders, tools, or anything else that could be a potential trip hazard.
• Make sure walkways are even and have no large cracks. Repairs should be made if either one of these conditions exists.

What to do if a Slip and Fall Happens on Your Property

• Seek medical attention for the injured party if needed.
• Gather critical information such as the name of the injured party, the time of the day the slip or fall incident occurred. The location of the incident. What was going on at the time of the accident (was it the injured party’s fault?) Take pictures of the scene and if possible, of the injuries sustained by the person who fell.
• If you or the person who experienced the accident need to file a claim, contact your insurance company promptly. Follow the insurance company’s instructions to document the claim correctly.
• If a severe injury occurs as a result of a slip or trip, contacting an attorney may be in your best interest.

All that is needed to stop slip and fall accidents is to care enough to prevent them. Should you have any questions about Liability Insurance, contact us via email here or call us at (863) 646-LOCK.

Product Liability Insurance, Do You Have Enough Coverage?

You know that if you manufacture any sort of product you need to carry a special type of liability insurance called product liability. This is designed to protect you from any claims made against your company based on injuries or damage that your product might cause to the public. Every company owner has seen the type of lawsuit that product liability protects against, but most believe it is unlikely to happen to them. This could be true, but if it does happen to you, wouldn’t you rather be prepared instead?

Don’t Take A Chance

Do you believe your product is safe; of course you do, you have gone through all the necessary procedures to make sure it is. So while you acknowledge that you should have product liability, you probably think a minimal amount of coverage should be just fine. This line of thinking is especially common in products that are not really seen as potentially dangerous. After all, you don’t make chain saws, you make stuffed toys!

While it is true that the type of product you make can determine how likely it is that you will one day be facing a lawsuit, this shouldn’t be the deciding factor in how much coverage to carry. When you take out a lower policy based on your belief that you are not in a high risk category, you are taking a chance that really is not worth taking.

How Much Coverage Do You Need?

The answer to this is very simple. As with any liability policy, the best course of action is to take out as much as you possibly can. If you make a product that isn’t seen as a high risk, your premiums should be quite affordable. And if you make a product with potential dangers, you need to pay that premium no matter how high, because a lawsuit will cost much more.

Liability insurance is one of those coverage options where the people who claim they can’t afford it are the ones who need it most. Paying for the insurance now is much better than paying out on a settlement later. Sit down with your insurance agent and find out how much coverage you have for product liability, as well as how high you can go.

Product liability is an area of insurance that is growing all the time as recalls are more and more common and lawsuits even more expensive. No matter what your product is, this is not an area of your insurance in which you should not cut back on.

Call us today to Discuss.

What Type of Liability Coverage Do You Need For Your Business?

No matter what type of business you run, you need to protect your interests with the right liability insurance policy. Every company needs a variety of different types of insurance; some of these policies are the same no matter what kind of business you have, while others might be specific to your industry. One of the coverage’s that remains the same across the board is general liability coverage.

Your general liability policy is one of the most important you will select as a business owner; it takes only a quick look at the news to see the array of claims consumers have made against companies in recent years. Many of these lawsuits ended in favor of the claimant. Without good liability coverage, your company could wind up paying these claims out of pocket. Take the time to make sure you have selected liability coverage that meets all of your needs and potential risks.

What General Liability Is For

There are a number of different types of liability policies you can purchase to protect yourself from potential financial responsibility. General liability is one of the less specific forms of coverage and provides a generalized, overall coverage for liability claims resulting from a wide array of possible incidents. While it will not protect you from everything, a good general liability policy provides you with a solid foundation.

A general liability policy gives you coverage for defense from lawsuits and to pay out financial claims when negligence on your part can be proven. It prevents your company from facing potentially serious financial damage due to property damage, injuries, or any other claim that can be proven to be a result of your company’s actions or products.

Choose Your Policy Carefully

When you select a liability policy for your company, you should first make certain that the policy covers you from all angles. If you have specific risks that are not covered by general liability, you may want to purchase additional policies to provide that coverage. It is important to understand what is covered by your general liability policy and what is not; waiting until a claim occurs is not the best time to discover the exclusions in your policy!

Be certain that a few basics are being covered by your general liability policy. You want to be sure that you have good public liability coverage-meaning that members of the general public who might sustain injury or loss as a result of negligence on your company’s part can be compensated. You also need to be sure that you have enough coverage to protect yourself properly.

Don Westerfeld 8/26/2014 8:38:00 AM

How Much Should Liability Insurance Cost?

Factors that affect Liability Insurance

There are several factors that decide the price on Liability Insurance:

• The number of employees and the sub-contractors cost (many do not understand their sub-contractors effect there rate even when they carry there own insurance).
• How many Owners – if one of the owners is not active or is not in the field working, sometimes we can exclude them.
• Gross receipts – total that you bring in to the business before you pay all your expenses.
• The type of work that you do – insurance companies call them class codes. Each type of job description will be placed with a code or similar risk and can be grouped together.

There are several factors that can hinder you with some companies:

• Prior claims or knowledge that a claim could arise
• Job type or description
• How many years of experience
• More sub-contractors than employees

Click here to read more and we can help you understand some of the complicated insurance situations.

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Don Westerfeld 11/11/2010 6:53:00 PM