How California Restaurants Can Cut Slip, Trip and Fall Claims

Why slips and falls matter for California restaurants

First big storm of the season. Patio closed. Lobby packed with guests and delivery drivers. Concrete at the entrance is wet and slick. One of your servers, hurrying through the entrance with a tray of food, hits a puddle and goes down. In California, slips, trips, and falls are not just a snow and ice problem. They happen on concrete, tile, and patios year-round. They are more likely when:

• Heavy rain hits smooth exterior surfaces.
• Outdoor seating and host stands are crowded.
• Holiday traffic and events increase foot traffic.

When something goes wrong in these zones, the person who falls may be an employee, a guest, a vendor or a delivery driver. The claim may run through workers’ comp or general liability, but the operational impact is always yours to bear.

The guide breaks down these high-risk zones in plain language and gives you examples your managers will recognize immediately.

The same hazards that injure your staff

Every hazard that can take down a guest can also injure an employee.

• A wet entry mat is just as dangerous to the host as it is to the customer.
• A cracked curb in the lot can trip a server carrying food to the patio.
• Spilled drinks and cluttered aisles can send both guests and staff to the ER.

Framing slip, trip and fall prevention as a total safety issue helps your teams see why it matters beyond a single claim.

Simple daily checks for California restaurant locations

Most of this can be covered in a five-minute walk before each shift and a slightly longer check before the rainy season or major events. You do not need a complex program to cut a lot of risk. You need a short, repeatable routine that managers and shift leads can own. Using the structure in the guide, you can build a simple “five-minute walk” for each shift:

Outside checks

• Walk the parking lot and sidewalks for holes, lifted concrete and standing water.
• Confirm lighting is working in the areas guests and staff actually use, including side and rear lots.
• Check ramps, curbs and any exterior stairs for loose edges or slick surfaces.

Entrance checks

• Make sure mats are flat, dry and long enough for several steps.
• Remove clutter from doorways and waiting areas.
• Add signage or extra mats when rain or spills are likely.

Interior checks

• Walk main server paths, bar areas and restrooms for spills, loose rugs and crowding.
• Require immediate cleanup and temporary signs any time liquid hits the floor.
• Check that decorative items, point-of-sale displays, and cords are not blocking aisles.

The guide gives you a framework you can copy straight into a checklist, so each location is inspecting the same zones in the same way.

What to do when someone falls

Even with good prevention, incidents will happen. How you respond in the first few minutes matters.

The guide includes a detailed incident investigation form. In practice, your process should look like this:

1. Make the scene safe
   Help the injured person, clear the area and prevent additional falls.
2. Document what happened
   Capture guest or employee statements, staff observations, and photos of the exact area, including the floor surface, lighting and any visible hazards.
3. Preserve evidence
   Save camera footage from before and after the incident. Note weather conditions and time of day.
4. Record root cause and corrective actions
   Use the incident form to answer two questions:
   • What made this incident possible?
   • What will change so it does not happen again?

This level of documentation helps you manage third-party claims more effectively and gives CRMBC clearer information when employee injuries are involved.

Turn the guide into a simple slip, trip and fall program

The goal is not a thick safety manual that no one reads. The goal is a simple, repeatable program your teams actually use.

You can use the guide to:

• Define your high-risk zones at each location
• Standardize daily and seasonal checks using short checklists
• Train new managers and shift leads on what to look for and how to respond
• Review incidents once or twice a year to spot patterns and fix recurring issues

When you take this approach, slip, trip and fall prevention becomes part of daily operations, not a one-time project.

For CRMBC members, that supports the broader goals you already care about: safer operations, smarter claims decisions and more control over long-term workers’ comp costs.

Key Takeaways

• Most guest and staff slips, trips, and falls occur in a few predictable areas: parking lots, sidewalks, entrances, restrooms, and server paths.
• California risk often spikes when heavy rain, outdoor seating and holiday traffic come together.
• The same hazards that injure guests often injure employees as well, which eventually shows up in workers’ comp results.
• Simple daily walk-throughs and seasonal checks give your managers a practical way to find and fix hazards before someone gets hurt.
• Standardized incident reports and documentation help you manage third-party claims and give CRMBC better information when staff are involved.
• Turning the guide into a short, repeatable program across locations is more effective than a long policy no one uses.