Using Video to Spot Slip-and-Fall Fraud

The Need

Some businesses lose thousands of dollars to customers who fake slips and falls. Businesses face rising workers’ compensation insurance premiums because of false slip and fall claims of employees. Business security camera systems in Chattanooga can help your business reduce these costs.

Fraudulent Slips and Falls

Scams to get money for a slip and fall can take on different forms. The scam may be as simple as an employee seeing a spill on the floor, sitting down, and then filing a workers’ comp claim for a fall on the job. It may involve more than one person. Someone spills a jar of liquid on the floor and waits as a second person takes a fall. The person who falls files a claim against the store, while the other person acts as a witness to the fall. The scam may be complex and involve doctors exaggerating a person’s injuries.

Customer’s Slip and Fall

What is required for your customer to recover for a slip and fall?

• The customer must show you knew or should have known of a hazard.
• You took no action to remedy the situation or warn the customer.
• The customer was not at fault for the fall.

With business video surveillance, you can determine if there was a hazard on the floor or ground and how long it had been there. You’ll know if any employees or customers were in the area. You’ll see if there was a “wet floor” sign around the hazard.

A surveillance camera can help you prove the customer was at fault for the fall. A video can show other customers walking over the alleged hazard without difficulty. You can see if the customer was not paying attention to where he or she was walking. Fault on the part of the customer can prevent the customer from winning a judgment or reduce the amount of the judgment.

Slip and Fall at Work

What is required for an employee to recover for a slip and fall? The employee must show that he or she was within the scope of his or her employment at the time. A surveillance video camera can show how the employee slipped and fell. If the claim is legitimate, your workers’ comp insurance carrier will pay benefits for the employee’s injuries, and you, as a business owner, can take measures to prevent future falls.

Limits on Videos

There are limits on filming certain areas of a business. For example, you can’t have cameras in restrooms or fitting rooms. While respecting the privacy of your employees and customers, you can place surveillance cameras in areas where you suspect slips and falls may occur.

Benefits

Detecting fraudulent slips and falls is just one more advantage of the effective use of surveillance cameras. Your workers’ comp insurance carrier has an extra tool when investigating an employee’s claim of a fall at work. Grocery stores, department stores, restaurants, and other businesses can have visual evidence of how a customer or patron slipped, tripped, or fell. The video footage can prevent lawsuits and can aid your insurance company in settling and defending claims.

Call Edge CCTV to learn how video cameras at your business can detect slip and fall fraud.