Liability Insurance for Injuries Sustained in Restaurants
If you are a restaurant owner, then you see your fair share of traffic in and out of your doors every day, even if you have capacity limits and social distancing rules in place. When you do open your doors each day, however, you must remember that you have a duty to create a safe environment for your clients. There is always a chance that an accident could happen, and if one of your patrons gets hurt, then it might be your responsibility to pay for their recovery costs.
With the help of your restaurant insurance agent, you can implement strong general liability insurance that will help you address someone’s losses if they get hurt on your premises. Still, it’s up to you to recognize where these hazards exist, and to do what you can to prevent customer injury risks.
Consider just a few common injury hazards, and what you should do to keep the risk of them happening to a minimum in your restaurant.
1. Slip-And-Fall Risks
Plenty of customers will move throughout the restaurant during their time with you. Should they slip in a puddle, trip over an extension cord or fall out of a chair when one of the legs suddenly collapses, then they could face considerable injuries.
2. Burn Risks
Lighted candles, buffet burners and even hot coffee can all cause burn risks to a patron, especially if the restaurant owner did not properly warn them that these hazards were presents. Not only are any open flames burn risks, but they also are fire risks that could easily get out of hand.
3. Food-Borne Illness & Injury Risks
Of course, any time you serve food, you must provide prepared, sanitary and quality products. Not only could poorly prepared food lead to risks of food poisoning, but there are countless other potential hazards present, too. For example, improperly stored food could infested with a pest or saturated with a poisonous chemical. Or, food prepared for someone with a nut allergy could become cross-contaminated with peanuts and cause that person to experience anaphylaxis.
In any case where an accident occurs on your watch, the customer could hold your business responsible. They might even sue you for the medical bills, lost income and pain & suffering that you caused them. Even if you didn’t intend for this injury to occur, you still might be liable for it because you neglected to take steps to reasonably prevent it from happening.
Under these circumstances, general liability insurance that is customized for a dining establishment will help you get the appropriate coverage in case such a challenging event ever occurs.
