Aston Lark discusses: Staff training and record-keeping

Hello, I hope you enjoyed reading my colleague Nick’s article last month on the benefits of purchasing your home and contents insurance through a broker. It’s great to be able to offer advice on a wide range of insurance-related topics. I would now like to turn your attention back to the world of commercial insurance by talking about staff training logs. It may not be the most interesting of tasks in your day-to-day job but it is of vital importance and could really benefit your business in the long run. Here’s why. Some of you may have had the unfortunate situation of an employee sustaining an injury whilst at work. Should the employee believe that your negligence was the cause of their injury, they are likely to want to pursue damages through the company liability insurance cover you have in place. Whilst the claimant may believe that your negligence was the cause of their injury, it needs to be proved for a successful claim to be made against you – anything you can do to help defend the allegations made against you will help your insurers. It will also help improve your overall claims record too. This is where a well-maintained and accurate training log for all staff members can assist. Having been through the process of completing the accident report book entry and RIDDOR report (where applicable), and notified your insurer of the potential claim, the insurer will begin to investigate the circumstances of the injury and will look to see who has been negligent and what can be done to avoid a recurrence. As part of their investigation, your insurance company or their appointed loss adjuster will approach you for training logs to support your case. If you are able to provide evidence that suitable training had been given to that particular staff member for manual handling, for example, the loss adjuster may decide that you have done all that can be reasonably expected of you to prevent that injury from occurring and recommend to defend the matter when the claim is received from a third party representative. Whilst having a training log does not absolve you of all liability claims made against you as there may be other contributory factors, it becomes substantially more difficult for a claimant to prove your negligence when you have done all you can to ensure that their role can be carried out safely, without fear or concern of injury, at all times. We can provide guidance on how to log all staff training and refresher courses if you do not currently do so. Please get in touch and I will be happy to share this with you. Deceased personal possessions Keeping deceased personal possessions safe when they are in your care, custody and control is of the utmost importance but what happens when something outside of your control results in the theft or loss of an item? Most insurers recommend that jewellery and other deceased personal possessions should be stored in a secure safe with all items both in and out logged and signed for. When an item taken from a deceased may be of clear significant age and/or value, it would be prudent to take photos of it so that there is also a visual record of what the item looks like. You may wish to take photos of all items. Should the worst occur, images taken can be used to help source a suitable replacement or determine the item’s true worth. While insurers cannot place a sentimental value on an item of jewellery lost or stolen, a robust log of all items will help to make the claims process smooth, resulting in a faster settlement of your claim. If you would like more information on any of these points, please do not hesitate to contact me on 0208 256 4927 or colin.powell@astonlark.com. Yours sincerely, Colin