A Tale of Two Supermarkets

 

*/By Stephen McPhie, CA/*

*/Partner, RSD Solutions Inc./*

/(Repost of blog from January 24, 2011)/

Over the last couple of months I have heard two separate stories of customers
of two different large supermarkets being injured while shopping.  Both
customers happened to be elderly ladies. 

Lady A slipped and fell and twisted her ankle.  The injury was not serious
but the Supermarket arranged a cab home for her.  The store manager phoned
the next day to ask how she was getting on and promised to send a £25
shopping voucher, which he did.

Lady B was struck from behind by a large trolley used to replenish the
shelves and which was being pushed by an employee.  She was treated by the
store's first aid person and advised to go to hospital.  She did this and
required 5 stitches.  Her shoes were blood soaked and ruined.  She could
not wear shoes for a month and needed several follow doctor visits costing
cab fares each time.

Several letters from Lady B's family following no further communication
from the supermarket elicited only vague sympathy and the claim that the
employee pushing the trolley was pushed by another customer and thus denial
of liability.  They did eventually send a £25 shopping voucher as a
"gesture of good will" with the hope that the lady will not stop shopping
at their store.  The family are now engaging a compensation lawyer.

The prompt and caring action by the fist supermarket cost little and resulted
in a happy customer who will tell all her friends how nice the manager was to
phone and how well she was treated.

The story is not over yet for the second supermarket, but it faces not only
the possibility of significant compensation and legal costs, but also
potentially bad publicity.  There is also the risk that the bad publicity is
magnified if the media take up the story.

So what are the lessons for risk management?  They would seem obvious for
most, but in this case one large organisation appears to have been totally
blind to them.  Identifying the possibility (or, for supermarkets, the
likelihood) of such accidents and a protocol for dealing with them promptly
costs little but can turn the situation to their advantage.  There may be no
strict legal liability but even a few hundred dollars could prevent losing a
customer, possibly several, and bring positive publicity.

/UPDATE September 2013 – The supermarket in Lady B's case ended up
settling for several thousand pounds plus Lady B's legal fees.  Had they
offered something like £200 in the first case it probably would have been
accepted./