December 1st means it is time for the twelfth, and final, excerpt from my e-book The Business of Face Painting. Of course, if you would like to get all the information included in my book right now you can find out how here.
If you have found the twelve excerpts useful… Be sure to check out our special offer for the month of December – details at the bottom of this post.
The Business of Face Painting was published in September of 2009 and I am working on the final stages of the companion book The Art of Face Painting which we hope to have out soon.
If you are in business and dealing with the public you are at risk of a claim against you for a variety of reasons. Documenting incidents and assessing the risks is very important – you may require the information if there is ever a claim made against you (see last month’s excerpt on Insurance) and some clients require risk assessments to be submitted for their insurance purposes.
The following is an excerpt from Chapter Six of The Business of Face Painting.
HEALTH AND SAFETY
Incident Reports
If something should happen while you are working and is reported to you, document it. Having your own record of what happened, witness names and contact information, etc. could prove to be invaluable should any claim be made against you. An Incident Report Form is provided in the document templates [the form is available in the e-book.] Personalize and print off a form to carry with you in case something happens. If someone trips over your kit box and hurts themselves, or your water spills and someone slips. Use it to record things that happen even if the person involves says “oh it is okay, never mind”… they might change their minds later and make a claim against your for damages. Things like… a child saying the paint stings, so you wash it off with a baby wipe. Or, you accidentally drop black paint on the rug. Those things should be noted so that you are able to provide details from your side to the insurance company if you have to call them about a claim.
Risk Assessments
A risk assessment is part of the business plan where you note the risks involved in your business, but also, you could be asked to provide one by clients or potential clients for a specific job. That sort of Risk Assessment would list all the potential risks that could arise on the job and list the measures taken to mitigate them and the actions to be taken should something happen. The requirement for a formal Risk Assessment tends to be more common in the United Kingdom than in North America, but larger companies and organizations that may be considering hiring you may require them.
A sample Risk Assessment form is provided with the document templates and it lists common risks and actions to take [the form is available in the e-book.] You can use this form and personalize it or design your own. The type of risk these cover are things like tripping hazards, reactions to products you are using, staff safety, fire and emergency equipment locations, etc.
© Shannon Fennell, 2009
with material from “Designs and Templates Volume 1” © November 2007
and “Designs and Templates Volume 2” © March 2008
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