Does General Liability Cover If a Customer Gets Hurt by Broken Glass?
General liability insurance covers customer injuries from broken glass under premises liability when the injury occurs on the restaurant's insured location and results from the restaurant's negligence in maintaining safe conditions. Coverage applies under Coverage A, up to the per occurrence limit (typically $1,000,000), to injuries from broken windows, shattered glassware, or glass doors caused by inadequate maintenance or delayed cleanup.
What Has to Be True for Coverage to Apply
The restaurant must have known or should have known about the dangerous condition, failed to correct the hazard or warn about it, and there must be a causal connection between that negligence and the injury. Common scenarios triggering coverage:
- Glass doors without warning decals — customers walking into transparent glass and suffering lacerations
- Broken drinking glasses not cleaned immediately — shattered glassware left on floors or tables without cordoning off the area
- Shattered light fixtures falling on customers due to defective or aged fixtures
- Windows damaged by weather or vandalism that aren't boarded up or repaired promptly
How the Claim Pays Out
1. Medical Payments Coverage (Coverage C): $5,000–$10,000 per person, no fault determination required, covering ER visits and stitches as a goodwill payment.
2. Legal Defense Coverage: paid separate from policy limits, covering scarring or disfigurement claims through trial and appeals.
3. Settlement or Judgment Payment: up to the per occurrence limit, covering compensatory damages, pain and suffering for permanent scarring, lost wages, and long-term treatment.
Where It Gets Complicated
- Comparative negligence: if the customer broke the glassware through their own actions, the restaurant's liability — and the payout — is reduced accordingly
- Product defect: glassware that breaks unexpectedly during normal use may shift liability to the manufacturer under products liability, with a subrogation claim against the supplier
- Intentional breakage during a fight: falls under the assault and battery exclusion, removing standard CGL coverage — more common for bars than traditional restaurants
- Employee injuries from cleaning up broken glass fall under state-mandated workers compensation, entirely separate from CGL
Reducing Both Injuries and Premiums
- Documented broken glass cleanup procedures and staff training
- Tempered or safety glass in high-traffic areas
- Glass door warning decals and regular inspection of doors and windows
- Quality glassware resistant to thermal shock
Claims history directly affects underwriting and renewal pricing, so loss prevention credits for documented safety programs are worth pursuing.
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