General
What you do during an event that prompts a claim can have considerable bearing on subsequent events. The right actions during and immediately after a crisis can do a lot to lighten the burden over the following days, weeks, months or even years.
Obviously, in any incident, the first priorities are to alert people to seek safety and to help control the situation.
You should also:
- Ensure that all injured people receive medical attention as soon as possible. Proper and prompt treatment can prevent serious consequences to victims.
- If there is the remotest possibility of fraud, you should contact the police immediately.
- Assess the extent of the damage.
- Draw up a list of witnesses, being careful to record in writing their full statements, full names, addresses and telephone numbers.
- You must contact our office as soon as possible and advise brief details of the incident. This is extremely important since it is imperative to appoint assessors as quickly as possible to ensure that the claim is dealt with promptly. Our office will give the necessary instructions at this time.
- You should take all possible steps to ensure that any damage is minimised and take the appropriate action to reduce further damage.
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Do not admit liability or fault, no matter how strong the temptation to appear conciliatory to anyone
involved in an accident on your property. It may be that it was not your fault after all – yet such an
admission could make it hard to reject liability in a court of law.
