Evergreen USA

By Lucas Hartford 

The Fourth of July weekend is upon us and hopefully there will be a lot of people camping!  With thirty-five years of providing insurance the staff of Evergreen knows that the Fourth of July weekend is the weekend in which campgrounds, RV Parks and resorts across the United States have the most incidents and claims of any weekend in the year. 

Hopefully everything goes smoothly at your business for the holiday weekend but if something should happen here is what you need to know if someone gets injured: 

• Do not pay or make any financial obligations
• Do not make statements to anyone which assume responsibility
• Provide needed medical assistance
• Gather information
• Preserve all evidence and if needed photograph the scene
• Eliminate any immediate hazard, without destroying the evidence
• Notify police if a law may have been broken
• Complete an incident report form to memorialize the information while it is fresh in your mind
• Make a report of the incident to your insurance company
• Keep all of the information you obtain confidential

One difficult area with any incident is the balance between compassion to the injured person and accepting responsibility.  It is absolutely okay, and recommended, that you do show compassion toward anyone hurt at your business whether you believe you are at fault or not. We are all human and to see another person injured should invoke feelings of compassion and sympathy – and as the business owner or manager you should convey these feelings to the person who is injured at your premises to let them know you do in fact care.  

It is okay to care about them and that is very different from assuming responsibility or making financial obligations to them.  Showing compassion does not make you any more liable for the incident but assuming responsibility or making financial obligations may make you much more liable – and for some people can jeopardize your insurance coverage. 

As some examples here are things you would not want to say to someone injured at your campground or RV Park:

•  “We should have trimmed that tree earlier in the year.”
•  “We’ll pay to replace the stuff that was broken.”
• “Our insurance company will pay for your injuries.”
•  “I should never have let this happen.”

Some things that are okay to say might include:

• “I am very sorry you were hurt.  What can we do to make you more comfortable?”
•  “I’m sorry Uncle Dave was injured.  I know your camper is hooked up right now; can I drive the rest of your family to the hospital to see him?”
• “I’m sorry your camper was ruined by that tree limb falling.  Can my staff assist you by getting a tarp over the roof to temporarily keep the rain out?”

If someone seeks medical treatment and later in the day comes back to their site, it’s perfectly fine to go see them to check up on them.  If the person wants to know how they will be remunerated than give them the name of your insurance company and the phone number for your insurance company.  Tell the camper that you will be reporting it to the insurance company who will be contacting them soon, but if they want you can give them the number of the company as well. 

Caring is good – admitting fault is not good until a complete investigation is able to be done.

If you have an employee that is injured you should make sure to contact your Worker’s Compensation insurance company.  For injured employees depending upon the state your business is in you may also be required to notify the state’s Department of Labor within a certain period of time of the injury.  And that period of time can often be as short as 24 hours.

We suggest Evergreen clients make sure they have watched the video “How to Report a Claim” that is available exclusively to Evergreen clients.  In addition you should have a few incident report forms available which are available from Evergreen.  If you need either of these items just call Evergreen and ask for them.

Evergreen also has on-line claims reporting available if you want to do it online.   In addition if you have a serious injury or loss and need to speak to someone outside of normal business hours (Mon-Fri 8am-5pm EST) you can call the same number, 1-800-343-7900, and you will be directed to our 24x7 claims service person who can help you out anytime day or night.

Wishing everyone a safe, busy and prosperous Fourth of July weekend with many happy campers.