Managing Snow and Ice Contracts

Snow and ice removal is the only service in your vendor portfolio where a documented failure within a few hours can end in a personal injury claim against the property. That changes what the contract has to do.

A snow removal contract sets a trigger, a standard, a response time, a material policy and an evidence requirement — then gets tested at 4 a.m. by a supervisor you have never met. Design it so the test is passable, and keep the record that shows it was.

Key takeaways

• Write the trigger and standard in measurable terms — accumulated depth in centimetres by area, with a response window in hours. "As required" is not a contract term. — critical
• Slip and fall exposure is a same-level hazard: CCOHS reports that 67% of falls happen on the same level from slips and trips, with weather conditions listed among the causes. — critical
• Require time-stamped service records, material logs and photos per visit, delivered within 24 hours. That file is the defence, not the invoice.
• Separate walkways and entrances from parking areas. Different standards, different equipment, different injury consequences. — critical
• Do not accept roof clearing or overhead work from anyone without fall protection, certified equipment and matching insurance.

Why a snow removal contract is a liability document

Across Canada, occupiers carry a statutory duty to keep premises reasonably safe for people who enter them, and provincial occupiers' liability legislation — Ontario's Occupiers' Liability Act is one example — is where that duty is written down. A winter slip claim turns on whether the property had a reasonable system and whether the system operated on the day.

Two failures get litigated, not one. The obvious one is ice left on a walkway. The quieter one is a property that cannot show when the area was cleared, what was applied, or who checked it. The first is the contractor's problem. The second is yours, because the contract and the records are the manager's deliverable.

What must a snow removal contract specify?

Specify six things and the rest follows. Ambiguity in any one of them becomes a dispute in February, when nobody has time for a dispute.

Add the ordinary vendor controls too: certificate of insurance naming the owner as additional insured, provincial workers' coverage, equipment list, an overnight supervisory contact, and a subcontractor clause. A general framework for the rest of the agreement is in a vendor SLA that works.

Trigger standards: depth, freezing rain and the all-in question

The trigger is where most contracts are weakest. A depth trigger measured at a weather station twenty kilometres away tells you nothing about the north walkway of your building.

• Define the measuring point. On site, in a stated location, or by a named weather service for a named station.
• Give freezing rain and ice-only events their own trigger. They are the highest-risk events and the ones a depth trigger misses entirely.
• Set a separate response for "sanding and salting only" visits, because they happen more often than ploughing.
• Fix the clearing window in hours from trigger, and attach consequences for a missed window that escalate — credit, then notice, then termination.

Fixed seasonal pricing and per-visit pricing both work, but they fail differently. A fixed seasonal price removes the argument about whether a visit was needed; per-visit pricing keeps the incentive to attend but invites disputes about whether the event met the trigger. Pick one deliberately and write the trigger to match it.

Materials: the salt and sand trade-off

Ice control is a materials decision with a maintenance bill attached. Chlorides melt ice and corrode reinforcing steel, damage soft landscaping, and get tracked into lobbies where they attack stone and metal finishes. Sand adds traction, melts nothing, and ends up in catch basins.

Confirm ranges against the manufacturer's label for the product your contractor uses, and name it in the contract so substitutions need written approval. Ask for application rates per event.

The evidence chain: what to keep, and for how long

The evidence you need has four parts, and three come from the contractor.

1. The service log. Date, time on site and off, areas completed, equipment used — within 24 hours of the event.
2. The material log. Product, quantity, area treated, application rate. Ties spend to outcome.
3. Photos. Per zone, on completion, showing the surface after clearing. A photo from inside a truck cab does not prove the walkway was cleared.
4. Your own verification. A walk at a set time after the event, with photos and notes on what was still icy.

Keep the package for the full limitation period for a claim in your province, and longer if an incident occurred. Claims commonly arrive one to three winters late and are argued against your record rather than your memory; the retention logic is in inspection evidence and photo standards.

What you can verify during a storm

You cannot stand in a storm all night. You can check that the system is operating.

• Call dispatch at the trigger and log the time, who you spoke to, and the estimated attendance time.
• Walk priority zones three to four hours after the trigger, with photos. Note the time, the surface condition, and whether ice control has been applied.
• Check snow storage areas: piles against a wall, hydrant or ramp become a spring drainage and fire access problem.
• After freezing rain, attend if you can — that is the event most likely to produce a fall.

Where a deficiency appears, deal with it in writing the same day: date, area, condition, photo, and a formal improvement request. Repeat failures escalate the same way as they do for cleaning.

Scope boundaries the contract should make explicit

Scope note: Roof snow removal, work at height, and any proprietary chemical beyond ordinary de-icing materials are outside what your own staff should ever do. Roof clearing requires fall protection, loading awareness, and often a structural opinion on where snow may be moved. If your building needs it, contract a specialist with insurance to match the risk, and say so in writing.

Two more boundaries worth writing down: staff should not operate contractor equipment, or re-prioritise areas verbally during a storm.

After a fall: the first 48 hours

Report, preserve, and do not editorialise. The record you create in the first two days is read by people who were not there.

• Secure the area and treat the person first. First aid and emergency services take priority over everything below.
• Record the exact location, time, surface condition, temperature and weather, with photos taken before anything is moved.
• Pull the service log and material log for the preceding 24 hours, and the verification walk if one happened.
• Notify your insurer and the owner within the policy notification window, and notify the contractor in writing without admitting anything.
• Preserve the maintenance file for that season. Do not tidy it, summarise it, or rely on a summary.

Most of that file already exists if the contract required it. Winter readiness for the whole system — supplies, entrances, heat trace, freeze protection — is covered in winter readiness: a building checklist, and the cycle that keeps it operating is in preventive maintenance for property managers.

For the injury side, CCOHS publishes housekeeping controls for wet surfaces in prevention of slips, trips and falls, and the same logic runs through slips, trips and falls prevention: the control has to be routine, because the hazard returns every time the weather does.

Frequently asked questions

Should the snow removal contract be fixed price or per visit?

Either, if the trigger is written to match. Fixed seasonal pricing suits buildings with predictable snow and priority walkways, because it removes the argument about whether attendance was warranted. Per-visit pricing suits smaller sites, but it needs a sharp trigger and a call-out log.

How fast must a contractor respond after snow starts?

Typical commercial terms require attendance to begin within one to three hours of the trigger on priority walkways, with clearing completed within a further fixed window. The number must be in the contract, match the risk of the area, and be measured from a trigger defined on site.

Is the property manager liable if the contractor fails to clear?

Occupiers carry a duty to keep premises reasonably safe, so liability does not end at the contractor's insurance. Your protection is evidence of a reasonable system: appropriate scope, defined trigger, monitoring, and documented follow-up on known deficiencies.

What is the best ice melt to use?

There is no single best product; there is one that works at the temperatures you actually get and does the least damage to your surfaces. Rock salt is cheapest but stops working around -10°C, calcium chloride works much colder but leaves a wet residue, and sand adds traction without melting.

How long should snow removal records be kept?

Keep the full season package — service logs, material logs, photos and your own verification notes — for the limitation period for a claim in your province, and permanently if an incident occurred.

Run the winter like a file, not a favour

The buildings that avoid winter injury claims are not the ones with the most aggressive contractor. They are the ones where the trigger, the standard, the material policy and the record were defined before the snow, and then checked.

NeatScore lets you build area-specific checklists with critical items flagged, record completion with photos, and keep a dated report your owner can trust. Try it free for 14 days, or see pricing.