Every small business must worry about risk management, especially service companies. It hardly matters if you are running a landscaping company, a home inspection service, or even a mobile car wash business, there are always inherent hazards of the trade. It is imperative that you reduce these risks whenever you can. As long as we’re talking about the mobile car wash business, which is something I know intimately about, having been in that sector prior to retirement, let me give you a case study and example of how risk management changes the way you do business.

First, I’d like to explain that business insurance isn’t cheap in the service sector, and the insurance costs are based on your gross revenues and sales. As you make more money, and as you have more employees your revenue should go up, and so too will your insurance costs for general liability, because it is based on a percentage.

Additionally, you will need workers compensation insurance, and the more injuries you have on the job, the higher it gets. If your company is accident prone, this can cause you to actually lose money and not be able to retain a profit at all, because your workers compensation insurance rates will go through the roof.

Now then, let’s discuss a mobile car wash cleaning at auto dealership car lots, they are done twice per week. I am sure you have seen crews out cleaning the car dealerships in the morning spraying off all the cars when you drive by. The reason it is done in the morning, is the car dealerships would like to get the washing crews off the parking lot by 10 AM when customers might start showing up. This is because they don’t want the customers to trip on the hoses.

I’d like to talk about four different items of concern for mobile carwash operators worried about risk management;

Hoses to trip on
Ice on the ground
Length of wands
Damp, wet, and catching a cold considered

Not only can customers trip on the hoses, but also your employees, and it does happen, I’ve actually tripped and fallen on the hoses many times myself. More often than not I trip and catch my balance, but I’ve had skinned up knees and eaten gravel on more than one occasion. Throw in a little ice on the ground on a cold wet morning, and it’s like that song; “slip sliding away,” worse, is the fact that when you put water on the cars it drips off onto the ground, flows onto the pavement and forms the ice that you will later slip on.

Next, let’s talk about the length of the guns used in the pressure washing. If your wand is too long you end up holding it above your head, and in doing so your arms get very tired after a couple hundred cars, and the hose behind the gun easily catches on the cars as you go around each and every one of them. When the hose catches on the cars, it can also cause you to trip up.

Realize you are dealing with pressure, sometimes heated water, and a slippery surface. The power of the gun can actually be used as a propulsion device, if you hold it at your belt line, stand on the ice, and pull the trigger. I know that sounds funny but it’s true, and I’m trying to make a point about the difficulty in holding your balance while cleaning the cars, and the potential for slip and fall accidents. Perhaps you can understand why risk management in mobile car washing is very real. Please consider all this.