PROPERTY PROTECTION 101: A Liability Primer

• Published in: Buildings 2013-04, Vol.107 (4), p.36
• Main Author: Tobolsky, Bill
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Business plans; Commercial space; Construction contracts; Contractors; Emergency preparedness; Employees; Employment; Facilities management; Guidelines; Insurance policies; Tenants; Trespassing
• ISSN: 0007-3725; 2471-3112

Facility managers must consider the safety of everyone who will be on site: employees, customers, visitors, delivery people, inspectors, contractors, architects and planners, police and fire personnel, and anyone else who comes to your property, even trespassers. You need to create a well-organized, practical, usable safety plan for operations, maintenance, and emergencies and appoint a safety officer with real teeth to administer it. Provide guidelines for evacuation and other procedures in case of fire, crime, disaster, armed assault, leakage of dangerous or environmentally harmful substances, and other emergencies. Provide an appropriate safety plan to contractors and tenants and make sure they educate their employees about it, but resist the urge to directly interfere in their employee supervision or operations lest you find yourself responsible for their negligence. Be aware that your responsibility doesn't end at the boundaries of your property. You're responsible for harm inflicted on your neighbors in some situations, such as a broken conduit leaking into your neighbor's pond.