Editor’s note: The author is an agent at Colstan & Associates Inc., a commercial insurance provider in Huntington, N.Y. The highlighted story below is part of The Schechter Report and NRN’s content partnership, and it does not necessarily reflect the views of Nation’s Restaurant News. It has been edited for length and a complete version appears at TSRMag.com.
A busy commercial kitchen can be dangerous places to work. Slippery floors, knives and other sharp tools, hot surfaces, heavy equipment, food packages and very tight storage spaces can all be the cause of injuries. Add to that the fast pace of production duties and the rush of activity that occurs daily during lunch or dinner and there are multiple opportunities for a disastrous and costly accident.
Based on a survey taken by Liberty Mutual, 45 percent of restaurant accidents become workers compensation cases due to slips and falls-despite the safety training tools and practices staff are exposed to in the work place.
Restaurateurs and foodservice operators do not start businesses because they think they're going to be really good at buying insurance. Nonetheless, buying the right insurance coverage is an extremely important task, and no business operator wants to learn the hard way that he or she has been doing it wrong.
“Safety Groups” are an option. A Safety Group is a collection of policyholders engaged in the same business or profession who have a defined program for actively promoting loss control. Based on aggregate results of the group, a dividend is paid to the members. Insurance agencies may offer more than one Safety Group plan to fit different foodservice operations’ needs.