Pedestrians wait to cross the street as bulldozers remove deep slush as a spring snow storm passes over Boulder, Colo., Wednesday, March 23, 2016. Heavy snow and strong winds have shut down some highways and schools in Colorado and canceled flights at Denver’s airport. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) ORG XMIT: COBL103

We all love our Colorado snow that transforms our towns and cities into a winter wonderland. It’s great to pull out those skies and snowshoes and enjoy the magic that winter brings.

However, as a business owner or manager, this season of white can bring more dangers than a spot of frostbite.

If visitors, customers, or your employees slip, trip, or fall on your premises due to ice or snow, you may be liable for damages.

If you do not fulfil your ‘duty of care’ to protect the people visiting or working in your business, you could be sued. And the more serious the injury, the more you may have to pay.

Therefore, it is important to understand exactly what your duty of care entails and how you can protect yourself from costly lawsuits and keep your staff and patrons safe this winter.

Exactly Who Is Liable in an Ice/Snow Injury Incident?

If you are from Colorado, you should know all too well how often this can happen. Truveta research from February 2024 estimated that 13.1 emergency visits for falls on ice or snow per 10,000 emergency department visits.

Not only that, they estimated about three times higher for colder states such as Colorado compared to milder states.

With this kind of frequency, it is important to know who is liable should one of these frequent incidents happen on your property. For example, is the owner always to blame?

Property/Business Owner

It’s not always the property owner who takes the fall in liability claims of this sort. However, if you are the property owner and you don’t have a middleman managing issues such as the accumulation of snow and ice, you are the one who is going to pay.

As a property owner, you have a legal responsibility to keep your property safe for visitors, and this includes timely snow removal after a snowstorm, according to Colorado law.

Property Manager/ Management Company

If a property manager has been tasked with clearing snow and ice and maintaining safety on your property, they may also be held liable. This liability rests on proof of the manager/management company’s negligence in maintaining a safe property.

To be negligent, they had to know (or should have known) about the hazard, and failed to do anything about it in a designated (usually 24-hour) timeframe.

General State Laws About Snow/Ice Removal

As a property or business owner, you are responsible for clearing snow and ice to ensure safe access to your property. This obligation involves the following:

Duty of Care

Property owners have a legal obligation to keep their properties safe for visitors, which specifically includes clearing snow and ice from walkways and public areas.

Reasonable Care

Property or business owners must take reasonable care to make sure that ice and snow on their property doesn’t create an unreasonable risk of harm to others.

While not all cities in Colorado impose a designated time frame in which to clear snow, there is an act called the Colorado Premises Liability Act that does impose limits on this timeframe.

Local Municipal Ordinances

Local ordinances vary, but most impose a 24-hour timeframe in which to clear ice and snow from their sidewalks after a snowfall ends. Failure to do this may lead to fines or penalties.

What Exactly Does This Obligation Legally Entail?

According to Zaner Law Personal Injury Lawyers, based in Colorado, there are precise obligations of property owners and managers to ensure the safety of their property. These include the following.

• Remove snow from stairs, walkways, and corridors.
• Clearly mark areas where black ice is present.
• Prevent injury from re-freezing: when tires, sun, and foot traffic melt the top layer of snow, which may refreeze and cause a hazard. Salt or magnesium chloride are the common options.
• Ensure melting snow and ice drain properly.
• Post warning signs about risks of slipping and falling due to ice and snow. Although it may appear obvious, you may still open yourself to liability if you do not do so.

Why Commercial Snow Removal Is a Good Protection

With all the headaches of keeping your property safe this winter, there is another option. Hiring a commercial snow removal company is the way to reduce the liability risks of snow and ice and help keep your property safe.

Properly certified snow and ice management companies keep abreast of not only the state and municipal ordinances but also stay ahead of the weather, so you don’t have to.

How Can Commercial Snow Removers Reduce Your Liability Risk?

Minimizes Slip and Fall Accidents

Because STFs (slips, trips, and falls) during winter are the major cause of liability claims, professional snow removal services can substantially minimize these potential injuries.

Provide Proof of Due Diligence

Professional snow removers keep detailed service logs with timestamped information, which can provide you with credible evidence that you took reasonable steps to keep your property safe.

They Can Provide a Good Defense Against Lawsuits

These carefully detailed and timestamped data can be your best defense in court should you face a lawsuit after a snow-related accident.

Save Your Potential Claim Costs

By preventing accidents and providing a ready and strong defense for your care of duty, snow removal companies can save your business untold injury claim costs.

Other benefits of Commercial Snow Removal

• Allows your business to continue operation without unexpected weather delays
• Provides proper commercial vehicles, heavy-duty plows, commercial-grade snow blowers, and brine and salt spreaders
• Commercial snow removers stay ahead of the weather, with some spreading brine several days before a storm hits
• Protects your buildings from snow accumulation damage, frost-thaw cycle wear, and tear
• Makes your business more accessible and appear more professional
• Protects logistics
• 24-hr emergency services for Colorado’s unexpected weather events

Conclusion

As a home and business owner, we need to protect ourselves from the potential hazards of Colorado winters, including unexpected injury claims. Keep abreast of your municipal ordinances and state law and ensure that you cause no harm to clients or employees due to oversight or negligence.

If you want to substantially reduce your liability and spare yourself the headache of overseeing the multiple steps to make your business safe this winter, consider commercial snow removal.

John Mali Director of Media Relations

Director of Media Relations at AboutBoulder.com

[email protected]