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Court Records indicate that one in five new businesses fail within the first year and up to three out of every five businesses within the first 5 years of operation. Considering such figures, it is understandable that business owners take every precaution possible to ensure that the risks involved are acceptable.

But whilst every business owner is usually fully aware of the above figures few realize that other internal factors, as related to the very nature of their specific business can dramatically add to the risk factor.

Workers operating heavy equipment for example introduce an added element of risk into the equation. Likewise, businesses operating motor vehicle also fall within this category where the human factor becomes a risk.

The truth is businesses are at risk as soon as there are interactions between customers and employees, particularly when these employees make mistakes which can then have negative influence on various levels. This added risk thus expands beyond the confines of the company's premises into customers' homes etc

And so, an employee's solitary mistake could have a potentially damaging effect on the business in financial terms which could affect its very livelihood and at best could result in a substantial increase in liability insurance premium.

What this means is that the action of one employee has significant on many different levels including customer relation and or potential litigation costs.

Of course it is practically impossible to foresee every aspect of a workforce method of operation and ensure that mistakes do not happen. Frailty is part of human nature, and as humans, we make mistakes. We can try to defend our interests by taking precautionary measures and one such essential measures surely lies at the recruiting level, before we actually hire prospective employees!

Business owners must therefore ensure that only the right people are employed so that should a mistake be made, it is not made by an employee with court records showing a less than desirable employment history or worse.

There is always an element of unease when talking about the subject of court records. After all we live in a free society where the privacy of all us is something we should all be proud of, and thus whenever the issue of background check is raised there is a sense of guilt or discomfort show casing everyone desire to stay out of other people's businesses.

But we do live in a world ripe with litigation lawyers, lawsuits and various such legal proceedings and the risks of damages imposed by a court to a company who has been found guilty of negligence or worse can mean the death of that company as a business.

By all means, individual liberties should be protected at all costs but when other employees stand to lose their jobs because of the actions of one careless worker with a checkered history then obtaining court records on all prospective employees is the very least a business owner should do to protect his business and the job security of the other employees.