BY: PHILIP PILETIC
The business world is filled with liability. The dangers that lurk around every corner could spell disaster for your company. While many business owners push ahead without any thought to preventing disasters before they happen, this course is a reckless path that you will want to avoid at all costs.
There are reasons a huge majority of businesses fail – not preventing disasters is one of them. To know how to avoid the most serious liabilities that could harm your business, it will help to identify what these liabilities are. Developing a plan to address these problems before-hand will prove to keep your company operational as other less savvy business owners crash and burn while being faced with such unmitigated dangers.
Contract Violations
At the top of the list of major liabilities that could ruin your business are contract violations. A business owner should never enter a contract lightly. Whether it is a contract with an employee or another business, the legally binding nature of a contract makes it a liability with which to be reckoned. To avoid sticky legal problems, it is recommended that you always pass any contractual agreement before a competent attorney to assess the possible pitfalls inherent in the contract in question. You should always be prepared to fulfill all legal obligations inherent in the wording of any contract in which your company is involved to ensure that your company will not be dragged into court. In a practical sense, fulfilling any and all contractual obligations will tend to protect your company’s reputation as well as its financial well being.
Injuries in the Workplace
Another serious liability to watch out for are injuries that happen in the workplace due to safety standard violations. When it comes to your employees, safety should always be the first priority. To ensure that an accident does not harm or kill one of your employees, it is smart to have a risk assessment done to identify any potential causes of injuries before they occur.
Whether it is a case of providing your employees with hard hats or a fork lift cage for use, making certain the proper safety equipment is available to employees, when carrying out their duties, will go a long way towards preventing serious accidents. This especially holds true if your business involves transport and storage, where risk of injury is one of the highest. This in turn will prevent your company from facing lawsuits that could cripple your operation.
Abusive Coworkers
Abusive coworkers can create a very hostile work environment. Aside from being a hindrance to productivity, this sort of situation is a lawsuit waiting to happen. This could be a coworker that is a bully towards others, a member of your staff that makes sexual advances towards others in the company or a manager that lets their position and power go to their head. Whoever is responsible for creating a hostile work environment, you should be aware that the courts will more often than not side with the abused victim when a lawsuit is raised. To keep the problem in check, it is critical to speak with a qualified attorney to establish a comprehensive code of conduct for your business and the proper disciplinary policies to be applied to those who violate that code. Abusive people are not a liability your business needs to hang on to for long. A non-hostile work environment is always ideal for limiting legal actions brought against your company by its employees. Additionally, employees perform better when they do not feel threatened in the workplace.
Faulty Facilities
The condition of the facility your business operates out of is a concern that should never be taken lightly. Water leaks create mold and hazardous breathing conditions. Faulty wiring, on the other hand, can take your business up in smoke. A roof that sags may collapse in on your employees. Making certain that the building you operate your business out of is a sound place to operate is a key concern of anyone trying to limit liabilities. Having your facility regularly inspected to make sure that the facility remains a safe place to work will put everyone’s mind at ease, including your attorney’s.
Conclusion
When you first considered starting your business, you probably did not think so much attention had to be paid to limiting liabilities. Yet, a great deal of the proper daily operation of a business depends on making certain that liabilities do not stand in the way of progress, productivity and profit generation. When the path to business success is free of major liabilities, the ability to maintain that success is a whole lot easier.
Source: Dynamic Business
