Protecting Your Small Business From Car Accident Claims
As a small business owner, you’ve got a lot of potential risk on your plate, and as any skilled auto accident lawyer could tell you, personal injury claims resulting from a collision can amount to very significant amounts of time and a whole lot more money. It’s for this reason that it’s essential to shield your small business from the threat of such claims, and this article will lay out some steps you can take to better manage your potential risk.
The Kinds Of Claims To Watch For
First things first, you’ll need to understand what kind of claims can be made against your small business as the result of a car accident. By and large, there are two categories to watch for:
- Employee Negligence: This includes instances where your employee is responsible for damages and injuries done as the result of a car accident that occurred during the scope of their employment. In such cases, they are usually the negligent party.
- Employer Negligence: These are claims that allege you, the employer, are responsible for the accident due to your own negligence. It could be that you intentionally hired someone with a clear history of incompetence, or poorly maintained company vehicles, which in turn caused them to fail on the road.
Now, there are ways to mitigate the likelihood of these claims—some straightforward and some a bit more complex—which we’ll be covering in our next section.
How To Safeguard Against Accident Claims
Keeping your small business safe against accident claims starts with limiting the chances for accidents to occur. One of the most straightforward ways you can do this is by ensuring that any company vehicles you have are well and regularly maintained. The oil, tire pressure, breaks, lights, and other critical components need to be up to snuff so that your vehicle can stay road-wrothy. You can perform inspections yourself, but be sure you also have a vehicle maintenance professional who can handle whatever heavy lifting needs to be done.
On top of performing maintenance, you’ll also need to limit the risks posed by the human elements of your organization, and that means providing adequate training and education to your employees. Even if they are, generally speaking, a competent bunch, safety training can go a long way to helping maintain a safe work environment and keep your employees from making critical errors while they are out on the road.
Training and education can be further bolstered by putting in place carefully considered policies that guide the actions of your employees. These policies should put safety at the forefront, and help you avoid many situations where accidents may have occurred due to negligence.
One final thing to note is the fact that, even when taking all the necessary precautions, accidents can still happen and you’re better off staying prepared. In addition to enacting the aforementioned safeguards, it may also be in your best interests to consider reviewing the liability insurance for your business to ensure that you’re covered in case of the worst.
