What to do when a customer is hurt at your business

Take care of the person first: call 911 for anything serious, offer basic first aid for something minor and block off whatever caused the fall so nobody else gets hurt. Then, the same day, write down what happened, photograph the spot, take witnesses’ names, export the security video and report it to your insurer, even if the customer says they’re fine and leaves on their own.

What you say in those first minutes matters almost as much. You can be warm and sorry it happened without saying it was your fault, and you shouldn’t offer to cover their doctor’s bills before you’ve talked to your insurer, however natural that feels.

The first ten minutes

1. Check on the person. Ask if they’re hurt and whether they want medical help. Call 911 for a head injury, a possible break, heavy bleeding or anyone who can’t get up.
2. Don’t move them if they might have hurt their neck, back or head, unless staying put is dangerous.
3. Offer basic first aid only within what you or your staff are trained to do.
4. Make the area safe. A wet floor sign, a blocked-off step, a fallen display moved aside. Snap a quick photo first if you can do it without delay.
5. Stay with them. Get their name and phone number, and if an ambulance takes them, note which hospital if they tell you.
6. Ask staff and customers who saw it to wait a minute so you can take their names.

The evidence disappears faster than you think

Say a customer slips on spilled milk near the self-serve station in a café, lands on a wrist, says it’s nothing, accepts a bag of ice and leaves ten minutes later. Two weeks pass. Then a letter arrives saying the wrist was fractured, along with a request for medical bills and lost wages, and by now the floor has been mopped a hundred times, the customer who saw the fall is a stranger you’ll never find, and the camera system that covered that corner has quietly recorded over the footage.

That’s the usual shape of a customer injury claim. The fall is fast but the claim is slow, and most of what decides the claim gets made or lost in the first day.

Video is the most fragile piece. Many security systems record in a loop and overwrite older footage after a set number of days, so the clip that shows a customer stepping around a clearly marked spill (or not) can vanish before anyone thinks to look for it. Export it the same day, covering a few minutes before and after, and keep a copy somewhere other than the recorder.

Then shoot the spot from a few angles and distances, including the floor, the lighting, any sign that was up and anything that was or wasn’t in the way, because a picture of a dry floor with a yellow sign standing next to it is worth more than any statement you’ll write later.

The physical object matters too. If a chair leg snapped or a shelf bracket gave way, set the piece aside and don’t repair or toss it until your insurer says you can.

Witnesses walk out the door with the customer. A name and a phone number is enough, and it takes thirty seconds.

Write it up the same day

An incident report is your record of what happened, made before anyone’s memory shifts, so keep a blank form by the register, in the shop office or on your phone, and fill it in before you go home. It should cover:

• The date, the time and the exact place (which aisle, which chair, which step)
• The injured person’s name and contact details
• What they were doing and what happened, in plain facts
• What they said about it, in their own words, if they said anything
• Visible injuries and any help given, including whether an ambulance came
• Conditions at the time, like lighting, weather, a spill, a cord or a freshly mopped floor
• Witnesses’ names and numbers, including staff
• Whether there’s video, from which camera, and where you saved it
• Who wrote the report, and when

Stick to what you saw and heard. Don’t guess at the cause, though it may seem obvious, and don’t write “our fault” or “their fault” anywhere on it.

Sorry is fine; promises aren’t

Being decent to someone who’s hurt is the right thing to do, and it won’t sink your claim. Admitting legal fault or promising money can, because a liability policy typically gives the insurer the right to investigate and settle, and a promise you make at the counter can box the insurer in before it has seen a single photo.

Don’t post about it online, and ask your staff not to either; if the person or a lawyer contacts you later, be polite, take their details and pass the message to your insurer without arguing the facts.

Report it, even when they say they’re fine

This is the one rule worth being rigid about: report every customer injury to your insurer the same day, including the ones that look like nothing. People often feel fine right after a fall but find out later they aren’t, and many liability policies ask you to report any occurrence that could lead to a claim, which a fall plainly is.

Here’s how the call goes.

1. Have the file in front of you: the incident report, the photos, the saved video and the witnesses’ details.
2. Tell it once, in plain facts, the way you wrote it on the report.
3. Write down the claim number and the name of the person you spoke to.
4. Forward anything that arrives later the same day: a letter, a medical bill or court papers, which often carry a short deadline.

A report opens a file while the evidence is fresh, and the insurer hears the story from you first, which is worth a lot if the customer’s version arrives weeks later through a lawyer. With Corgi, one claims specialist handles the claim from the first call until it’s closed.

For the general process, see how to file a business insurance claim.

Medical payments or a liability claim?

A general liability policy can deal with a customer injury in two different ways, and it helps to know the difference before you call.

Medical payments coverageMedical payments coverageMedical payments coverage is a part of general liability that can pay small medical bills for people hurt at your business or by your operations, regardless of fault.Read the definition is often included in general liability. It can help pay an injured customer’s reasonable medical bills after a minor injury on your premises, usually regardless of who was at fault and up to a fairly small limit. That’s the point of it: a few stitches or a sprained ankle can be paid for quickly, without anyone arguing about blame, which often keeps a small injury from turning into a larger claim. Policies list situations where medical payments don’t apply, and many only pay expenses that are incurred and reported within a set time after the accident, so check yours and don’t sit on the bills.

A liability claim is a different animal. The customer says your business was negligent, perhaps by leaving a spill or a loose mat, and asks for money for medical bills, lost wages and pain and suffering. The NAIC describes general liability as paying the injured party’s medical expenses and notes that even trespassers can sue if they’re hurt on your premises, while the policy itself typically covers the claim and your defense up to your per-occurrence limitPer-occurrence limitA per-occurrence limit is the most a liability policy will pay for all claims arising from a single incident, however many people are hurt or claims are filed.Read the definition, subject to its terms and exclusions.

Which route applies is your insurer’s call, based on the policy and the facts, and if you’re not sure your limits are high enough for a serious injury, how to choose liability limits walks through it.

Is it always general liability?

No, and the exceptions are worth knowing by business type.

• Salons. A client burned by a chemical treatment or cut during a service may bring a claim about the service itself, which can fall under professional liability. A client who trips over a cord in the waiting area is usually a general liability matter. See general vs. professional liability.
• Auto shops. A customer who slips in the lot is usually a general liability matter. Damage to the customer’s car while it’s in your care is usually a garagekeepers claim instead.
• Contractors. A homeowner who trips over your materials at their own house typically goes to your general liability policy, even though the site isn’t yours.
• Offices. A visiting client who falls in your suite may involve your policy and your landlord’s, depending on where it happened and who was responsible for that area, and the lease often spells that out.
• Your own staff. An employee hurt at work is a workers’ comp claim, since general liability typically excludes injuries to your own employees. See what to do when an employee is hurt at work.

One habit covers most of this ground before anything happens. A five-minute walk each week to check mats, cords, lighting, steps and spills, logged with the date, prevents some falls, and when one happens anyway, that log is a dated record that you looked after the space, which is exactly what a negligence claim will question.