December 2007 NEWSLETTER to clients of Knox Insurance Brokers Ltd. From Randy Bushey, A.I.I.C., General Manager	Close newsletter
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TOPIC: AN ONTARIO WINTER HAZARD: SLIP & FALL LIABILITY

The chain of Civil Liability can be illustrated this way:

Duty owed → Duty breached → Damages result

Unfortunately, the courts have sometimes placed a heavy burden on the defendant to demonstrate that the parking lot, sidewalk or floor was properly constructed and maintained. Given Ontario winter weather conditions, this can be extremely onerous.

At law, the property owner or occupant is responsible to exercise due diligence, meaning doing what is reasonable to manage a risk from becoming an incident. To do so, we recommend the following:

Policy – having a standard
Procedures – providing control and management of the risk
Proof – confirming that the policy and procedures have been followed.

Taken together, policy, procedures and proof will constitute a system of due diligence if executed systematically and consistently.

If you would like a policy template for winter maintenance and snow removal, please call your broker or check the “Client Advice” section of our website (www.kibl.com).

EXTERIOR WINTER MAINTENANCE/SNOW REMOVAL POLICY

POLICY

During business days and between the hours of _____ a.m. and ______ p.m.
our standard is as follows:

Snow is to be removed from the parking lot and from entrance ways when
the accumulation exceeds 5 cm. (2 inches).

• The parking lot will be sanded subsequent to snow removal, if the lot does not allow for winter-appropriate traction for pedestrians.

• Ice will be removed from entrance ways whenever an accumulation exists over top of asphalt, concrete, brick to not allow winter-appropriate traction for pedestrians.

PROCEDURES

We have contracted out the clearing of snow from our parking lot, together with sanding operations. Our contract with the snow removal contractor stipulates as follows:

• Snowplowing will occur whenever the snowfall accumulates to 5 cm. (2
inches) or more.

• In the case of a major storm, plowing may not be completed until the end of the storm.

• Snowplowing will be completed by 7 a.m. on business days.

• Sanding services are to be carried out by the contractor after the snow is removed, if and when the parking lot does not allow for winter-appropriate traction.

2. Our employees will take responsibility for the following:

• Clearing snow from entrance ways when accumulation exceeds 5 cm.
(2 inches), sufficient for a single line of pedestrian traffic.

• Salting or sanding the entrance ways where the concrete, brick or asphalt does not allow for winter-appropriate traction for pedestrians.

PROOF

Parking lot snow clearing and sanding have been contracted out to the snow removal contractor (contract attached). The snow removal contractor has confirmed that they maintain a written record for billing and risk management purposes of each time our lot is cleared and sanded.

Our employees who remove snow from entrance ways, or sand/salt at the entrance ways. will enter such activity into a central log-book as proof that our policy has been followed.

OTHER RISK MANAGEMENT ISSUES

The snow-plowing contractor, will be required to demonstrate liability insurance coverage by way of an Ontario Automobile policy (OAP 1) and Commercial General Liability policy, each to a minimum limit of $1,000,000 per occurrence. In addition, the contractor will hold us harmless for any incident relating to the winter condition of snow or ice on our parking lot, subject to the terms of our contract dated_____________ and subsequent agreements.

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