Liability and your Swimming Pool Route: How to prevent potential lawsuits
In this article I go over liability on your pool route and some things you need to be aware of. One of the essential things you will need is a good Liability Insurance Policy to protect yourself from losses due to a possible lawsuit. Even if you don't get sued you may need to pay out large sums of money which could put you out of business.
A Liability Policy is very inexpensive and there is no reason not to have one. I learned this almost the hard way. I had a customer accuse me of leaving her gate open, luckily there was no incident. But it wasn't me who did it. I just shook that off as a one time deal. Then six years ago I had another customer accuse me of leaving the pool fill water on. This one was more complicated and messy and made me see the need to get some type of coverage. Now I have no worries out their in the field and can sleep easy at night.
Liability Insurance is just a way of transferring risk from you to someone with deeper pockets. It is the same reason why you drive around with $500,000 in auto insurance and why you have fire insurance for your home. You couldn't afford to pay a claim in those two instances and you certainly can't afford to pay a $50,000 or a $1 million dollar claim against your pool service business.
That is why I highly recommend a General Liability Insurance policy. I have a great relationship with a local company here which offers the best rates and uses only "A" rated underwriters. To learn more about the policies offered by SPPA you can visit their website:
http://thesppa.com/
If you become a Patron on my Patreon site at the $10 or $20 level, you can get a group policy rate of $50 per month. This also includes a waiver of the $100 annual renewal fee by SPPA. This is a 2/1 policy and will be sufficent in most cases. 2 Million for the life of the policy and 1 million per occurance. This policy includes:
To join at the group rate and to learn more:
http://www.swimmingpoollearning.com/sppa-pool-route-liability-insurance
If you service Commercial accounts you may need a larger policy depending on the requirements - usually a $2 million per occurrence policy.
There are some common sense essentials that you can do at each account to prevent liability and I will touch on those here. Having a basic service log at all of your accounts where you log the date and time of service is your first line of defense. Noting the water chemistry is also important in case someone claims to have gotten sick after swimming. For Commercial accounts the log should be more extensive and include filter PSI, ORP and other essential readings. If there is any question of liability this service log may clear you, especially if you are being wrongly accused of leaving a gate open on your service day.
Closing all safety covers, closing all gates, locking safety gates and closing pool fence gates after servicing a pool is critical. Critical. If a gate is left open and a child, elderly person or pet were to fall in, you may be held liable. I had a friend who was sued for $1,000,000 after his employee was accused of leaving a gate open and a child fell in. The child survived but suffered brain damage. He had liability insurance and they paid out the $1,000,000 for him. True story. He would be out of business and would have lost all of his assets. He is the one who turned me onto getting a Liability Policy a few years back.
Filling a pool for a customer can turn out to very expensive for you if you forget to turn the water off. I make it a rule not to fill customer's pools. Having a Contract or Service Agreement stating something like this will protect you:
“The customer is responsible for keeping the proper swimming pool water level. We are not responsible for possible damage to the pool equipment if the water level gets too low and the system runs dry. To prevent this please maintain the proper water level at all times. We will not add water or fill the pool as part of our monthly service.”
There are some rare exceptions on my pool route when I am servicing a vacant account. In that case I will install a Pool Sentry Autofill if the pool does not have it's own auto fill system. If I do add water to a vacant pool I will leave my truck keys attached to the fill valve. But as a rule, do not fill the customer's pool. You WILL leave the water on and if the house gets flooded you are looking at a $30K clean up bill.
There are also some basic things on the pool deck and equipment area that can prevent liability. Make sure all of your accounts have an operating skimmer cover. If the skimmer is uncovered a child could get their hand entrapped in the pool suction line or someone could break their ankle by stepping into the skimmer. I know a pool service guy who broke his ankle while servicing an account that did not have a skimmer lid. Also make sure any side port/ vacuum ports connected to an automatic cleaner has a functioning vac lock. I have a separate on Vac Locks:
Side Port (Automatic Cleaner Port) Overview & Troubleshooting: http://youtu.be/b-FOWJ3P-9I
Also make sure your manual timer boxes have a cover or shield over the wires. There is a potential for a customer getting shocked if they touch the exposed wire terminals. If they have a preexisting condition or a pacemaker they could suffer real injury. Basically, check the equipment area for any potential hazards:
How a Broken Diverter Valve Handle can Ruin Your Equipment & Cause Death: https://youtu.be/Q-LMNGLvgfU
Bottom line, a good Liability Insurance Policy will help protect you from mistakes and accidents on your service account.
YouTube Video Index – A list of all of my videos:
http://poolmandave.blogspot.com/2014/03/swimming-pool-tips-reviews-how-to-video.html
A Liability Policy is very inexpensive and there is no reason not to have one. I learned this almost the hard way. I had a customer accuse me of leaving her gate open, luckily there was no incident. But it wasn't me who did it. I just shook that off as a one time deal. Then six years ago I had another customer accuse me of leaving the pool fill water on. This one was more complicated and messy and made me see the need to get some type of coverage. Now I have no worries out their in the field and can sleep easy at night.
Liability Insurance is just a way of transferring risk from you to someone with deeper pockets. It is the same reason why you drive around with $500,000 in auto insurance and why you have fire insurance for your home. You couldn't afford to pay a claim in those two instances and you certainly can't afford to pay a $50,000 or a $1 million dollar claim against your pool service business.
That is why I highly recommend a General Liability Insurance policy. I have a great relationship with a local company here which offers the best rates and uses only "A" rated underwriters. To learn more about the policies offered by SPPA you can visit their website:
http://thesppa.com/If you become a Patron on my Patreon site at the $10 or $20 level, you can get a group policy rate of $50 per month. This also includes a waiver of the $100 annual renewal fee by SPPA. This is a 2/1 policy and will be sufficent in most cases. 2 Million for the life of the policy and 1 million per occurance. This policy includes:
To join at the group rate and to learn more:
http://www.swimmingpoollearning.com/sppa-pool-route-liability-insurance
If you service Commercial accounts you may need a larger policy depending on the requirements - usually a $2 million per occurrence policy.
There are some common sense essentials that you can do at each account to prevent liability and I will touch on those here. Having a basic service log at all of your accounts where you log the date and time of service is your first line of defense. Noting the water chemistry is also important in case someone claims to have gotten sick after swimming. For Commercial accounts the log should be more extensive and include filter PSI, ORP and other essential readings. If there is any question of liability this service log may clear you, especially if you are being wrongly accused of leaving a gate open on your service day.
Closing all safety covers, closing all gates, locking safety gates and closing pool fence gates after servicing a pool is critical. Critical. If a gate is left open and a child, elderly person or pet were to fall in, you may be held liable. I had a friend who was sued for $1,000,000 after his employee was accused of leaving a gate open and a child fell in. The child survived but suffered brain damage. He had liability insurance and they paid out the $1,000,000 for him. True story. He would be out of business and would have lost all of his assets. He is the one who turned me onto getting a Liability Policy a few years back.
Filling a pool for a customer can turn out to very expensive for you if you forget to turn the water off. I make it a rule not to fill customer's pools. Having a Contract or Service Agreement stating something like this will protect you:
“The customer is responsible for keeping the proper swimming pool water level. We are not responsible for possible damage to the pool equipment if the water level gets too low and the system runs dry. To prevent this please maintain the proper water level at all times. We will not add water or fill the pool as part of our monthly service.”
There are some rare exceptions on my pool route when I am servicing a vacant account. In that case I will install a Pool Sentry Autofill if the pool does not have it's own auto fill system. If I do add water to a vacant pool I will leave my truck keys attached to the fill valve. But as a rule, do not fill the customer's pool. You WILL leave the water on and if the house gets flooded you are looking at a $30K clean up bill.
There are also some basic things on the pool deck and equipment area that can prevent liability. Make sure all of your accounts have an operating skimmer cover. If the skimmer is uncovered a child could get their hand entrapped in the pool suction line or someone could break their ankle by stepping into the skimmer. I know a pool service guy who broke his ankle while servicing an account that did not have a skimmer lid. Also make sure any side port/ vacuum ports connected to an automatic cleaner has a functioning vac lock. I have a separate on Vac Locks:
Side Port (Automatic Cleaner Port) Overview & Troubleshooting: http://youtu.be/b-FOWJ3P-9I
Also make sure your manual timer boxes have a cover or shield over the wires. There is a potential for a customer getting shocked if they touch the exposed wire terminals. If they have a preexisting condition or a pacemaker they could suffer real injury. Basically, check the equipment area for any potential hazards:
How a Broken Diverter Valve Handle can Ruin Your Equipment & Cause Death: https://youtu.be/Q-LMNGLvgfU
Bottom line, a good Liability Insurance Policy will help protect you from mistakes and accidents on your service account.
YouTube Video Index – A list of all of my videos:
http://poolmandave.blogspot.com/2014/03/swimming-pool-tips-reviews-how-to-video.html
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