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Tort – The Law Of, and Risk Management

Tort and Risk Management

Please see Law Of Tort from Wikipedia. It will explain it far better. Risk Management is a broad and complex business process that Elite-ID system will assist with.

Basically, Tort is a legal term that applies to someone suffering loss or damage resulting from legal liability (please see proper definition above).

For Attendance Verification and litigation, the end result is a claim for injury resulting from a slip and trip injury. The claim will be that the claimant was injured as a result of negligence.

Negligence means that no reasonable effort was made to reduce that risk. If negligence is proven, it can lead to claims of hundreds of thousands of dollars that may not be covered by insurers. This can be a significant risk to the viability and survival of a business.

The whole process of monitoring and managing risk is called Risk Management. Larger contractors have a department dedicated to this.

What Can Be Done about This?

Ensure you adhere to your contractual requirements, identify risk areas, use information to assess risk.

Your goal is to make sure your staff patrol and are diligent in ensuring the least possible risk. Accidents will still happen but you will be best placed to defend yourself.

Above all else, show diligence and keep records of your management practices that target this.

Not so simple is doing it. Commercial reality is that you must not over-spend on staff and then you must manage your staff so you achieve a provable reduction in risk.

How Do I Use The Elite System to help?

WebEye, AtSite and the classic wands collect data. This Attendance Verification data gives the ability to know, to measure and analyze staff attendances throughout a facility. From this, management and then diligence can be shown (when done).

The AtSite Events system is designed to help also. It produces a record of events that may help in identifying risk areas and situations that you may be able to manage better.

The data collected by an Attendance Verification system can be used to determine how well a contract has been complied with and the implied level of risk that results.

Then using the results, and critically, you must manage your staff to ensure your goals are met.

Installing the system without using it for checking and managing your staff is pointless. Unless you monitor and manage, your results will not be known.

I had a claim and there was no data for the area!

We have heard that before. It is terrible.

A client told us exactly this, then said there was no data because staff had not been there and hence the risk increased, then an injury happened. They used camera footage to show the Elite-ID system was correct, and the location had not been attended.

It all works together; patrol regularly and prove it. This results in fewer claims and more protection when you need it.

We have found that when staff understand the data is there to protect them, and also their performance directly affects slip and trip injury, they are motivated and invested in the process. We have heard it said, “I’ve never had a slip and trip injury on my patrol round.”

What Are Risk Areas?

Some areas will have a higher likelihood for an accident to happen. At Elite-ID we have 20 years of experience in speaking with cleaning and security contractors. Here is some of the feedback we have been given.

Fresh Food / Grocery areas – your number one risk area in shopping centers. These are often high risk but depend on the way they are implemented and the stall holders. If people can pass quickly and produce is dropped on the floor, the risk is high.

Choke Points – are where people congregate in small areas. These are high risk. If these are near food courts they are very high risk. People carrying food may be jostled, drop something on the floor that then becomes a risk for those following. It becomes imperative these areas are patrolled diligently and often at peak times.

We have heard of some sites banning grapes. They are renowned for falling on the floor and being a high risk hazard.

Smooth surfaces that may be wet – these are high risk. An example is ceramic tiles or polished terrazzo outside and exposed to rain. People rushing to get under cover from the rain easily slip on smooth wet surfaces.

Entrances – may have wet floors when it rains. Water is a severe slip and trip hazard. Worse is when water is on the floor further into the center so it becomes almost invisible on a floor. Not only that, people are distracted, looking in shop windows and may not be paying attention.

Inclined Surfaces – these can be high risk areas. Any kind of substance on the floor will increase risk significantly.

Food Courts – may not be so hazardous as people are more careful there, but just outside a food court where food is dropped can have a high risk.

Toilet blocks – we seldom hear of injury in toilet blocks. The reason is that people move slowly and carefully and are paying attention. However most clients monitor these areas to ensure they are kept clean.

 

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