Canadian winters can take their toll, especially when it comes to your business property and vehicles. Now that spring is upon us, the changing season is a great time to take an in-depth look at every aspect of your business with our spring maintenance checklist.
Protect your property
Ensuring the safety of your land and buildings can help reduce your accidents, claims and losses.
- Do you have enough fire extinguishers and are they serviced annually?
- Are employees properly trained to use them?
- Are there any areas your sprinkler system doesn’t protect?
- Does your alarm system fully protect your property?
- Is the system properly protected (motion sensors, phone line protection, or cell phone back up) from tampering?
- Have you installed lighting in areas that could be targeted by thieves?
- Do you sell any items that thieves typically target? If so, how are they protected?
Minimize your liability
The type, frequency, and complexities of your work, along with the people doing it, impacts customer satisfaction, faulty work claims, and accidents.
- Do your safety and emergency procedures need updating?
- Are your stairs, carpets, elevators, escalators, and walkways in good repair?
- Do you have sufficient outdoor lighting to prevent injury?
- Do you have a quality control process in place to identify and rectify defects in design, manufacturing, or marketing (e.g. improper labelling, inadequate instructions or lack of warning label)
- Is sensitive data of employees and customers properly secured (physical and electronic)?
Safeguarding your vehicles and drivers
Even if you have only one vehicle, looking after it and training employees on how to use it is extremely important.
- Do you have a written policy in place for authorized employees who drive company vehicles?
- Do you have a vehicle maintenance schedule?
- Have you reviewed all accidents or near misses? Does anything need changing?
Increase employee safety
It’s critical that you equip your staff with the necessary knowledge, tools, and training so they can perform their work safely and efficiently.
- Do you have a training program to ensure your employees have the information they need to stay safe?
- Do you have the proper protective gear for employees? Is it in good condition?
- Has your industry changed or created any new training programs?
- Do you regularly perform quality control inspections to make sure your building and equipment are safe for employees?
- Does your business comply with all safety legislation?
- Are employee workstations ergonomically appropriate to avoid workplace injuries?
Update your insurance policy
Have you reviewed your claims from last year? Do you need to make any changes to ensure these claims won’t happen again?
- Have you looked over your policy to verify that you’re properly insured and that you have the right coverage amounts?
- Have you reviewed your company vehicle(s) insurance policy to ensure you have the proper coverage and amounts?
- Has your industry or company undergone changes in the last year that could affect your insurance?
- Do you need to add, remove, or switch your policy’s coverages?
- Do you have up-to-date records of your current inventory and any recent equipment purchases?
Ensure you’re covered
As we move ahead into the spring months, there’s no better time to conduct a thorough review of your business using this spring maintenance checklist. However, despite all your preparation, you can’t always control what happens to your business. That’s why having the right protection in place is so important. To learn more about protecting yourself and your business, visit our business insurance page today!
