A loss affects you in two ways:  it creates a disruption in the operation of your business, and it has an impact on what you will pay in the future for your insurance.  These are areas in which RPA can help—keeping the occurrence of losses to a minimum (minimizing losses) and curtailing disruptions when they happen (claims management).

Minimizing Losses

No one can guarantee you will have no losses—the safest, cleanest restaurant can have them.  But the idea is to minimize their occurrence by emphasizing safety and employing good operational procedures. 

RPA provides its clients with considerable resources to help promote safety and reduce losses.  Here is a partial list of safety topics that we routinely make available:

• Electrical hazards 

• Fire hazards

• Reducing slips/trips/falls

• Food preparation safety (equipment, machine guarding, strains & sprains)

• Serving hazards

• Clean-up tips

• Handling workplace violence

When you become a client you will have access to this and other valuable information online, at your fingertips.  We can even provide online videos for training employees in all aspects of workplace safety.   We work with you to make things easy!

Claims Management

The key to minimizing disruptions when losses do occur is to have a plan in place at the restaurant as to exactly what to do and to have an insurance agent who knows how to effectively handle the claim with the insurance company. 

We encourage direct reporting of claims to carriers, by phone or fax, in order to guarantee fast response to any claim situation.  But RPA staff is always available at its toll-free number for assistance.  Here are a few preliminary tips:

Property Loss or Damage

• Report the loss immediately.  It is always permissible to perform initial clean-up and make temporary repairs to avoid further loss.

• RPA will keep in touch with you to be sure that the insurance company adjuster will be there promptly.  We will also advise you on what documentation is needed and what procedures to follow.

Liability Claims

• If an incident occurs, but the individual indicates they are uninjured, the claim need not be reported and the restaurant manager need not obtain the individual’s contact information.

• However, if an incident occurs and the individual indicates they were injured, no matter how slightly, contact and other information should be obtained and the incident reported.  The same is true if the patron asks that their name and address be taken. 

• If the injury appears serious, you should be extremely solicitous, summoning aid where appropriate and making the patron as comfortable as possible.

Properly handling claims when they happen reassures everyone at the restaurant, during a time of stress, that things are under control. 

RPA also helps control your future premium costs by making sure that the carrier fights those liability claims that are questionable and reduces or removes loss reserves from your record if at all possible.  

When you become an RPA client you will have access to the For Our Clients section of this website to get some detailed guidance on how to make Loss Control work for you.