A Common Problem
As a property owner, property manager or snow removal contractor, you are well aware of the risks of slip and falls during and after snow removal operations. The cost of slip and fall lawsuits are usually in the tens of thousands of dollars and can easily top $100,000 for a more aggressive lawsuit. But just because someone claims to have fallen on your property, and now wants $100,000 from you, doesn’t mean that you, the property owner, manager or snow contractor is at fault due to negligence. It might just mean that your snow removal crew did their job correctly, but that it is still winter and no amount of snow removal service is going to make your property as dry as it would be in the heat of summer.
When Doing a Good Job Isn’t Enough
To minimize your risk of lawsuits, it is not enough to have a reliable snow removal crew that does a good job. You can have the crew perform the work to the letter of the law and the contract and you can still have a slip and fall lawsuit brought against all parties involved with the property.
To protect against slip and fall lawsuits you need to document all aspects of your snow removal operations. The questions that you need to have answered and documented are:
When did the crew start servicing the property?
When did they finish servicing the property?
What were the weather conditions (snow depth, wind, temperature, etc.) at the time of service?
Which specific services were performed (plowing, shoveling, spreading ice melt, etc.)?
Was ice melt used and if so how much ice melt was used?
In addition to having the answers to all of these questions, you need to have before and after photos of the work that was performed. The photos need to show the work was done correctly and according to the contract and in compliance with local laws. It is only with excellent documentation and photos that you will prevail in slip and fall lawsuits.
Staying On Top of Complex Recordkeeping
To accomplish this level of recordkeeping, you need to have a system that asks the snow removal crews the right questions and then requires them to take the before and after photos. The system must then permanently store the information and photos in the cloud so that a year or two later the records can be retrieved if necessary.
To improve your snow removal documentation and minimize your company’s risk from slip and fall lawsuits, take a look at FieldVision by DTSI. With FieldVision by DTSI, your snow removal crews can easily document all aspects of your snow removal operations. FieldVision by DTSI is the easiest and most affordable mobile application system available for property owners, managers and snow removal contractors.
Download the free app: Google Play or Apple App Store
