Incident Reports
Make notes about any "unusual" events in your establishment
What They Are
An incident report is nothing more than some notes about any unusual occurrences that may happen in your establishment. If you had to remove or eject someone from the premises, if someone slipped and fell (even if they said they're fine), or anytime you have to call the police. Besides jotting down some notes about what happened, other helpful information might include any employees on duty, any witnesses and their phone numbers, or how much the persons involved were served. If you have a camera system, be sure to make a copy of the video from any particular incident, so that it doesn't get deleted or overwritten by the time a suit may be filed.
Why You Should Keep Them
These seemingly innocuous occurrences might not
seem like a big deal at the time, but if you wind up
getting sued several months later this information
could prove invaluable to defending you.
Unfortunately, there are those who attempt to abuse
the legal system and collect some easy money. When
your insurance company begins investigating the
claim weeks or months later, how detailed of a
description will you be able to give the adjuster
from memory? Probably not a very good one, so your
defense comes down to your word against someone
else's, more or less giving you a 50/50 chance at
defending yourself. But if you take five minutes to
keep a few notes on each out of the ordinary event,
you'll be able to provide a much better picture for
the investigator than the person who's accusing you
of negligence.
How We Can Help
You have a busy enough day running your
establishment; you can't spend an hour a day
documenting every time some knucklehead got a little
tipsy and decided to act brave. And between register
receipts, checks and cash, and reordering inventory,
you have enough paperwork to keep track of. So
submit your incident reports to us electronically
and we'll save them for you just in case a claim
should ever arise. Submitting an incident report is
not the same as turning in a claim, it won't affect
your premiums in future years. It is just putting us
on notice that a claim could potentially be
forthcoming.
Submit an
Incident or
Dowload an Incident Report Form