Clean sheet

Documentation and excellent record-keeping are the biggest protections against slip-and-fall claims.


Megan Smalley

Published May 03, 2018

Compared with a decade ago, snow contractors seem to be receiving slightly more slip-and-fall claims than before. According to a Lawn & Landscape survey of more than 200 snow contractors, 58 percent of snow contractors reported dealing with slip-and-fall claims, compared to 48 percent in our 2009 survey.

To some contractors like Kimberly Jewell of Snow Management Services in Denver, these numbers come as no surprise. 

“One of the biggest reasons this is up is because laws are not set up in our favor,” she says. “They’re set up that we’re guilty until proven innocent. (Property owners) try to push all the liability on the snow removal contractors, and it’s gotten to the point that our industry is taking the hit for this.”

Jewell and contractors in Colorado aren’t the only ones facing this issue, either. Mark Schlutt, owner of M.A.A.C. Property Services, is based in Michigan but he services most of his snow customers in Indiana. He says the laws in Indiana allow property owners to subjugate all claims and liability on snow contractors regardless of facts. 

“That went into effect about eight to 10 years ago,” he says. “You can tell a stark contrast from previous years.”

While these laws are changing slowly in some states – Illinois signed The Snow Removal Service Liability Limitation Act into effect in 2016 – the laws are still stacked against contractors in most areas, making contractors more prone to receiving slip-and-fall claims. 

Considering these laws, it’s important contractors have impeccable documentation, up-to-date tools and good relationships with their insurance agents. 

“The best offense is defense,” Jewell says. “Make sure you have covered all your bases and there’s nothing more you could do differently.”

Good notes. Documentation is one of the biggest defenses snow contractors have when they receive slip-and-fall claims. This means contractors need to keep good notes of everything they do on a customer’s property. The following are a few details that are good to keep on record: 

  • Times of arrival and departure from the customer’s property
  • Map of the customer’s property
  • Names of workers on the site 
  • Temperatures and weather conditions when at a customer’s site 
  • Trucks that visited the site and a map of their routes
  • Amount of material such as deicer or salt used on the site 

“Make sure you have good paperwork,” Jewell says. “This is huge. And if you have photos on top of paperwork, that’s phenomenal.” 

Contractors also advise saving paperwork for years since some slip-and-fall claims won’t be reported until years after the incident. Schlutt says M.A.A.C. Property Services saves its records for up to 20 years due to a statute of limitations in Indiana.
 
“We had one (claim) that came up to six years after (a juvenile) slipped and fell,” Schlutt says. “I received the claim and looked at the date and had to call my lawyer. He explained to me the rule on the statutes of limitations on juveniles (in Indiana) – the statute on a juvenile starts on their 18th birthday. A father sued us and that cost $3,500. We ended up paying it.”
 
To remain proactive, contractors should respond quickly whenever they receive slip-and-fall claims, even if they come weeks, months or years after the incident. Jewell says contractors need to act like “investigators” when they get claims, both providing their records to their insurance agent and finding out additional information from property managers on the case. She advises asking the property manager for a formal report of the incident.
 
She also listed these as some good questions to ask property managers after receiving a claim:
  • What took place in the incident and what was the person doing that caused them to fall?
  • Where did the incident occur?
  • What time did the incident occur? 
  • What was the weather like when the incident occurred?
  • Was the person entering or exiting the property? Were they exiting a car? 
    What injuries (if any) did the person receive as a result of the fall? 
  • Did the person receive medical attention? 

“We have a form to do this and it’s not extremely difficult to fill out,” she says. “It’s a two-page paper that describes what took place and when things were reported. If contractors don’t do anything, though, they could end up in trouble later and won’t have a leg to stand on.”


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