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Famous
last words! “We don’t have
losses” or “that could never happen to us!”
That’s
good news, and many GLAA members have said these
exact words, or heard fellow Garage owners say them.
But the fact is large property or liability losses
happen every day to Garage businesses that have had no prior large
claims, businesses just like yours. It’s important to note that a large number
of losses... large and small...are preventable by taking a few simple
precautions.
Here’s a few examples of insured claims paid for
more than $100,000 to Garage service/repair operations over the past
several years. These losses probably could have been avoided by taking
appropriate Safety and Loss Prevention steps.
Safety
& Loss Prevention Steps
PROPERLY DOCUMENT
REPAIRS AND MATERIALS USED
A garage performed  brake
work on a customers’ vehicle prior to the customer’s car being involved in
a serious accident due to brake malfunction. It’s alleged the garage used
contaminated brake fluid. Proper records & sign-offs were not
preformed by garage so the case drags on in court causing huge defense
costs for the insurer and continued headaches & court appearances for
the repair operation.
PROPER SIGNAGE
AND PROHIBITION OF CUSTOMERS IN SHOP AREA
A repair operation had a customer slip on an oil
spot, which came from the repair area. Their customer walked from waiting
area into the garage repair area as the business owner did not prevent all customers in working areas.
PRE-EMPLOYMENT
SCREENING OF MVR AND WORK HISTORY
A mechanic, while test-driving a customer vehicle,
failed to observe traffic had stopped in front of him while entering the
roadway. The employee rear-ended a third party, causing severe injury.
This was a new employee who had not been screened prior to hiring by the
business; a poor MVR & work history were later discovered.
EMPLOYEE
SAFETY TRAINING AND POSTED GUIDELINES
A mechanic lifting boxed auto parts severely
injured his back. The shop was liable because it had no back brace or
leg-lifting guidelines set for employees.
SAFETY
CONTAINERS AND CONTROL OF COMBUSTIBLE ITEMS
Non-approved open container was used for dirty oily
& gas rags and kept at service bay entrance. Someone flicked a used
cigarette butt when finished smoking outside and fire quickly ensued
causing damage to building and smoke damage to customer’s cars.
REGULAR
SAFETY REVIEW
All shop
owners should regularly survey their shop for safety hazards, review and
train employees on proper safety and operational procedures, and
carefully review employee candidates prior to employment.
State
Auto can help GLAA Association members minimize the risk of these types of claims with personalized loss
control services available to all of SA insured businesses. Because
sometimes it “does happen to you”!
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