Restaurant Insurance Help – Slip And Fall Issues And Cheap Ways To Prevent Them

As a restaurant owner you know the importance of minimizing risk to prevent downtime and lost time out of work. But what you may not know is that there are some very simple changes you can make that will not only reduce your risk of loss but can also save you money on your restaurant insurance policies. This article talks about one of the most common sources for claims in the restaurant business and the simple techniques you can employ to help prevent these claims.

The most common restaurant workers compensation policy claim comes from slip and fall claims. These claims can really haunt the restaurant owner because they happen so fast and often happen out of site and can often result in long recovery times. These long recovery times can really kill your insurance costs. The resulting disability payments to your employee who is out of work and recovering will all count against your experience modification factor and drive up your rates for many years to come.

Slip and fall risks in a commercial kitchen are high because of the cluttered and slippery floors with oil water and food on the floor. Also, your employees putting away inventory are at risk because they often can’t see where they are walking while carrying large boxes or sacks. In addition, severs and bussers are at risk while carrying trays and operating in subdued lighting environments.

So here is a short list of what you can do to help protect your employees from this risk. All of the items on this list are FREE, you just have to implement them.

1. Have your employees wear non-slip, waterproof shoes.
2. Do not allow running in the restaurant.
3. Properly store all supplies and equipment and eliminate clutter
4. Apply de-icing products to exterior walkways to protect both employees and customers
5. Clean up any spill immediately.
6. If your employees must carry stacked items, you must have a rule that they can see over the top of the items that they are carrying.
7. Keep and eye on all rugs and carpets and make sure they stay in their places and all corners lie flat.

This next list is of some other things you can do to reduce injury to your employees. This list may involve some minor expense but the cost savings are dramatic compared to the costs of a long term workers compensation claim.

1. Provide two double swing doors with windows at the entrance to the kitchen so that people on both sides of the door can see what is going on before they push through.
2. Install wall and ceiling outlets so cords aren’t left running along the floor. Also, make sure floor plugs are not in areas where spills are common.
3. Stretch or re-lay any carpet that is bulging or bunched up.
4. Use nonslip floor mats and non skid floor waxes on surfaces where water could be spilled.
5. All floors where water is spilled or used to clean must have adequate drainage.
6. Place convex mirrors at blind corners.
7. Immediately replace any broken or damaged drain covers.

Following these recommendations will help you reduce and even nearly eliminate the slip and fall hazards to both your employees and your patrons. This will help hold down the costs of your workers compensation insurance and your restaurant insurance program.

At Clinard Insurance Group in Winston Salem, NC, we specialize in helping all kinds of restaurants across North Carolina and South Carolina with their restaurant insurance policies. We understand that not every restaurant is the same, and that is why we have created 5 specialized restaurant insurance programs. We don’t want you to be the round peg jammed into a square hole that so often happens with restaurant insurance. We have a fine dining restaurant insurance program, a casual dining restaurant insurance program, a fast food insurance program, a bar and grill and tavern insurance program as well as a specialized program for caterers insurance. If we can help you with your restaurant insurance needs, please call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us online at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com.

The source information for this article can be found in articles at www.RestaurantInsuranceGuy.com.

Restaurant Insurance – How To File A Workers Compensation Claim

Savvy restaurant owners buy workers compensation insurance as part of their restaurant insurance program. If you don’t and you are paying someone to work there for you, then you shouldn’t go a day more without a policy. But assuming you already have a workers compensation policy, how exactly do you file a claim?

Filing a workers compensation claim is easy and simple. You want to do this as soon after the employee injury as possible. In NC the claim form states that you must file the claim within 5 days of the injury. To do so, you must complete a Form 19 claim form and mail, fax, or email it to your insurance company claims department. The Form 19 is a standardized claim form to be used for all workers compensation claims in North Carolina. The reason for this is that the policy and claims payments are all overseen by the NC Industrial Commission.

If you don’t have a form 19 on hand, check your policy as most insurance companies will insert a few blank ones in the policy that they send to you. It’s ok to make copies of this form when you run out. You can also do a google search for form 19 and get a pdf file that you can print or download.

The Form 19 will ask for contact information for you and for your injured employee. They will also need to know the details of the injury, how and when and where it occurred. This information usually comes from the injured employee’s supervisor. Next you will need to fill in the occupation of injured person and information about how many hours they work each week and what their wagers are per hour and per day. This information will help settle the disability portion of the claim.

The rules require that you provide a copy of the completed Form 19 to the injured employee or the employee’s representative (read lawyer) at the same time that the Form 19 is submitted to the insurance company. Last of all, you must give your injured employee a blank Form 18 which is a form they can use should they wish to contest the claim settlement. You can obtain blank Form 18 copies the same way you got the form 19, or you may call the NC Industrial Commission at 800-688-8349.

At Clinard Insurance Group, in Winston Salem, NC, we work hard to help all of our clients become informed insurance consumers. Understanding how to file a workers compensation claim for your restaurant is important as you will want to move fast in the event of an accident or injury and spending time trying to figure out how to file a claim will only slow you down.

Should you need help with your restaurant insurance policies, from workers compensation to your business owners policy, please consider us as we specialize in insuring restaurants of all types and sizes all across North Carolina and South Carolina. We understand that not every restaurant is the same and we help you avoid becoming the square peg jammed into a round hole with our 5 different specialized restaurant insurance programs. We have a fine dining insurance program, a casual dining insurance program, a fast food insurance program, a bar and grill insurance program and a catering insurance program. We can put our extensive knowledge to work for you with one quick phone call. Call us, toll free, at 877-687-7557 or visit us online at www.TheRestaurantInsuranceStore.com.

The source information for this article was pulled from articles which can be found in their entirety at www.restaurantinsuranceguy.com.