Minimizing your risk and maximizing your reward is our focus at Swan Law, PC. Does your business pay for mobile phones? Does anyone connected to your business ever use mobile phones while driving? Beware! Juries are penalizing businesses when phones contribute to accidents. It is hard to duck once phone records come to court. Don’t kid yourself. Accidents involving mobile phones can and do exceed insurance limits and lead to bankruptcies. Click Here for a recent article from Constructive Executive magazine about these risks.
What can you do to protect your business and your community?
One: Include a mobile phone clause in your employee manual or safety policy. Here’s an example:
Mobile phones should NOT be used while operating a vehicle.Rely on voicemail; return calls after driving.If a call must be made or a text must be sent, pull off the road to park in a legal and safe location.Ask a passenger to make or take the call.Inform regular callers of the driver’s schedule and when he or she will be available to talk.Keep both hands on the wheel and both eyes on the road while driving.
Bonus Tip – Remember to keep records of your employees’ and independent contractors’ signatures acknowledging receipt of your policies.
Two: Verify your insurance covers vehicles and drivers during business use. Personal auto insurance policies contain exclusions. Keep your insurance broker fully informed on how vehicles are being used. Are you reimbursing employees for mileage? Whose insurance will pay for an accident en route to a business meeting? What if the employee was uninsured? Are you chauffeuring potential buyers to see real estate? Is someone running business errands, making deliveries or sales calls with a personal vehicle? Your insurance broker may ask how frequently these things happen and what percentage they are of total miles driven each year for the vehicle. If you have a nice car you save for impressing clients or a work truck you rarely drive with the family, you may need business auto coverage instead of a personal auto coverage.
Yikes! You don’t have an employee manual. You don’t have a safety policy. Insurance policies are all Greek to you. You’re wondering what else you can do to protect yourself… We can help. Please call Jamie our Client Services Director at 970.879.1572 to schedule a Risk Review and get your ducks in a row.