What to Do After You File a Beauty Insurance Claim
Must-Know Preventative Tips 

So, you had to file a beauty claim, huh? At the end of the day, it’s important to realize that this kind of thing happens to way more people than you think.

The good news: That’s exactly what your beauty insurance (hopefully from EBS, BTW) is for. 

The better news: This is a premium opportunity to take a good, hard look at your shop, your process, and your client experience and ask, what could I do to prevent claims in the future? 

Yep, we’re opportunists here at EBS, and we highly encourage savvy and sophisticated beauty pros like you to hop on that reflective bandwagon with us and learn how to take a peek at circumstances and learn from them. 

In the spirit of things, we’re posting this blog–a quick little guide with some suggestions for focusing on preventatives post-filing a beauty insurance claim! Have your own ideas? Add them in the comments at the end of the post–the beauty community (and us, too!) wants to hear it all.

Steps to Avoid Insurance Claims: The Best Preventatives 

Do a Shop / Salon Safety Audit 

Take a walk through your space and audit everything. 

• Are the hot tools somewhere safe and secure where no client could accidentally touch them? 
• Are the rugs secured to the floor so that no one can trip? 
• Have you thoroughly tested your products to know they don’t cause adverse reactions?
• Have you created a waiver for your customers to sign?
• Do you know the full list of ingredients and elements in your go-to products so you can advise clients on allergens? 
• Do you have a method for protecting your clients’ private data in your POS system? 

Take a walk–physically and metaphorically–through every part of your customers’ experience in and around your salon. A proper audit might not solve every potential problem, but it can shine a light on what you might have been missing! (You might be surprised by some of the more obvious ones!). 

Get a Fellow Cosmetologist’s Opinion 

Not sure what to do about preventative measures? Talk to someone who knows a thing or two–your fellow cosmetologist colleagues. If you know someone who’s been in the business longer than you (or just has a different experience), we highly recommend chatting with them about their preventive measures. 

Everyone has a different approach to avoiding the need to file claims–getting expert advice from someone in your field (maybe a mentor or a teacher, someone you respect and admire) can be the best way to unlock new methods for preventing incidents. 

Talk it Through with Your Insurance Company 

Your insurance company should be there for you every step of the way–especially post-filing a claim.  If you’ve got a top-notch partner worth their salt, they’ll absolutely talk options through with you and have go-to suggestions for preventative measures you can take to avoid claims. 

Review Mistakes & Implement Solutions 

Take a good, hard look at your last claim and ask yourself a serious question–what was at the root of it? You know what the problem was, but what led to the problem? 

Let’s walk through a hypothetical scenario to address this.

Let’s say you had to file an insurance claim because a customer slipped on your freshly waxed floor. Obviously, the solution isn’t avoiding waxing your floors (that’s what keeps them fresh and clean)–but were there steps you could have taken to avoid this situation?

Absolutely. 

For starters, a caution sign on the ground warning customers would have been a great option. Secondly, you could only wax and wash floors at the end of the day, so there’s an entire night of drying time (and a less slippery surface for clients). You could opt to only wax the floors on days you’re closed.

Obviously, this is a simplified version of other larger, more complicated issues. The point is, implementing processes and procedures for things that could be problems is one of the best ways to avoid them altogether. 

So, do a full review of things that you know are issues in your shop. Break them down piece by piece and come up with rules, restrictions, and procedures to ensure that you’re handling everything safely.