F or small business owners, unpredictable winter weather conditions can lead to costly repairs, liability claims, and significant business interruption. Here are some ways to protect your commercial property and/or brick-and- mortar businesses from unpredictable weather conditions that seem to be happening more frequently, and just in general, so you can reduce risks, avoid expensive damage, and keep your operations running safely all season long. Get Commercial Insurance If you are a commercial property owner or a brick-and-mortar business, it is critical to protect yourself and your business in general, and not just from unpredictable weather conditions and losses year-round, with a comprehensive business insurance policy. These are the coverages your policy should include: • General Liability Insurance – This covers third-party bodily injury (like a customer slip-and-fall accident) or third-party property damage claims that occur on your business property and elsewhere, especially if employees are travelling off-site to a client’s location as part of the day-to- day operations of the business. • Commercial Property Insurance – This covers damage and loss to business property, contents, and inventory caused by unpredictable weather like floods, wind, and snowstorms, but also fires, theft, and vandalism. • Business Interruption Insurance – This type of coverage is sometimes included in a commercial property policy and covers losses from an insurable event, should the property or business be required to close temporarily for repairs. Outside Your Business, Always Monitor the Sidewalks and Entrances to the Property - Slip and fall accidents that can injure customers and visitors to your business can happen all year long, but are more common in wet and winter weather
conditions, which increase the risks for businesses. So, make sure that you stock up on sand or de-icing salt and have a process in place, whether internally or by hiring a maintenance company, to make sure that parking lots, sidewalks, and pathways leading to the entrances and exits of your business are free of ice, and that emergency exits and delivery bays, if you have them, are cleared and usable. If your property has a parking lot, we also recommend that you mark curbs, speed bumps, and ramps with high-contrast paint or stakes so that they are visible in all weather conditions, day or night, with proper lighting. We also recommend that business owners keep a log book of dates and times when snow was cleared from the property and de-icing salt was applied and make this part of your business’s risk protection process. Snow from outside the business can be brought indoors by customers and employees lead to wet, slick floors, posing another slip-and-fall hazard.
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make sure that you use Signs to
Warn Customers of Potential Slip-and- Fall Hazards
44 SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • VOL 26 ISSUE 1
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