When you are about to insure your business, there are a few things you might need to check before getting a policy. There are some things that can endanger your business or property just by existing, and such things can compromise your position as an insurance policyholder. As a result, you won’t be able to properly insure your business and enjoy safety.
One of these problems is attractive nuisances. If you have any attractive nuisance on your property or the place of your business, you will face many problems.
For a start, it will be hard to insure your business. Many insurance companies will refuse to have a deal with you, while the others will let you have a policy with much higher insurance premium rates. Also, if the attractive nuisances cause any problems, they will refuse to take the liability, and you will have to take all the liability for that.
What are Attractive Nuisances?
An attractive nuisance is basically an object, a certain place, or a structure in your property that can attract visitors, especially children, and have the potential to cause harm to them.
For instance, if you have a swimming pool on your property, it can be labeled as an attractive nuisance, as children can easily fall in the swimming pool and drown, which can even cause death to them. If you have a swimming pool, or something else like a trampoline and other structures that might attract children, they can be considered as attractive nuisances.
Even though attractive nuisances can cause serious injuries or might even be fatal at times, you can easily prevent them if you want. As a business owner, you can easily take measures to stop children and other trespassers from coming inside your property and get injured.
If you have any attractive nuisance on your property, the law requires you to take special measures that can prevent anyone from getting injured, and if you take those measures, you will be able to safeguard yourself from any liabilities that might come from anyone’s injuries. Also, you will be able to convince the insurance companies so that you can get a proper insurance policy for your business.
Attractive Nuisance Doctrine
According to law, you need to maintain certain things if you have an attractive nuisance on your property. And the duties you have to follow while having attractive nuisances are called the attractive nuisance doctrine. The components of the doctrine are:
• Children are not expected by the law to fully comprehend the dangers they might face while they deal with an attractive nuisance.
• Suppose a business or a property owner thinks that there are possibilities of children coming into the property and getting injured. In that case, they are obligated to take the necessary steps to prevent that from happening.
• If the owner fails to meet the above responsibilities and someone gets injured due to the attractive nuisances, they will be held liable for that.
A business or other property owner must abide by the doctrine in case of having one or multiple attractive nuisances on their property.
How You Can Protect Your Business From Attractive Nuisances
In order to not getting held liable based on the attractive nuisance doctrine, you will need to go through some measures. Those measures might include getting rid of the attractive nuisances directly, or preventing any kind of trespassers from getting into your property so that they can’t get injured at all. You can go through these steps 6regarding attractive nuisances-
Keeping Swimming Pools and Fountains in Check
If there’s any natural water source, such as a pond or a lake is on your property, you won’t be held liable for that. But if an artificial water source like a swimming pool or a fountain is there, you have to take responsibility for them.
You can directly get rid of them to prevent any kind of harm if you think you don’t need them much. Or you can use a fence around them, or use a sign, or go through other measures so that trespassers don’t come near them and injure themselves.
Storing Machinery in Locked Places
If there is any kind of machinery on your property that has the potential to harm children or others, you need to lock them in a store where people can’t reach them. Dangerous chemicals will also fall in this category.
Restraining Dangerous Animals
If you have any kind of animal as pets or anything, which can cause harm to others, then you need to restrain them. You need to have proper fences, so that the animals can’t go out and harm others, and at the same time, no one can come near them.
Putting Up Signs and Installing Fences
Putting up danger signs near your attractive nuisances can be a way to prevent accidents to some extent. Even though they won’t be enough to stop children, but you should still put them up. Another important task is to put up fences so that no one can come into your property without proper authority and get into any kind of trouble.
Checking Fences, Locks, and the Whole Property Regularly
After you have put up the fences and locks, you need to regularly check them so that they are in good shape. You also need to check the whole property on a regular basis so that there isn’t any problem anywhere with it.
Videotaping Your Measures
You need to videotape the measures you have taken so that you have the proof of them, in case if you ever need them. Try to keep expert witnesses as well.
Following Local Regulations
Your city or state might have specific rules regarding attractive nuisances. You can follow them and keep your business safe.
Final Words
Attractive nuisances can be a real pain to deal with if you are a business or a property owner. But you can easily get rid of the liability you might have to bear in case any injuries happen by simply taking the aforementioned measures. Getting rid of the nuisances or making sure that no one will come near them gives you the chance to have a better insurance policy.
