You have worked hard to get your business going. You work even harder to keep it going. To keep your vision going you need to make sure that you have enough insurance coverage to handle anything that may come up. Most of the time, when starting out, the required insurance amounts are paid to get the company going. After that, little attention is paid to it until it is time to renew for the new year. You may find out when you are targeted by a lawsuit or are forced to shutdown due to unfounded accusations from employees or consumers, that your policy did not have the correct coverage.
- Workman’s Compensation – Most people are aware of what this coverage is. It is a requirement for your company to have unless you collaborate with independent contractors. It works by covering any employee that becomes injured, or ill, due to something that happened while at work. A couple examples would be lung damage due to inhaling paint fumes, or a finger cut on a meat slicer. Any number of accidents can happen during a workday, so make sure that you have plenty of coverage to keep your business above ground. Even though the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare states that under five percent of employees ever file claims, the ones that do could cost you a substantial amount.
- Business Owners – This type of policy is a combination of liability and property insurance coverages in one package. It allows a business owner, especially smaller companies, to save money on premiums by wrapping two common policies into one. This type of insurance can protect you from customer falls or property damages caused by vandalism or some acts of nature, depending on what the specific policy states.
- Professional Liability – This is commonly known as errors and emissions insurance. It covers you against claims of negligence or failure of a product to perform properly. If you work in the service industries this policy will protect you in the case of someone claiming that you provided improper service. Examples of this would be if you give investing advice that causes a huge loss, or if your cleaning product does not clean. As an owner this is a type of business insurance that you do not want to skimp on.
- Property – This protects your physical building, or buildings, against damages due to vandalism, hail, wind, fire, and other acts of nature that you have included. This will obviously depend upon your location and what mother nature likes to throw at you specifically. For example, if your building has been built below the normal water lines within a flood plain, you will want to have coverage against water damage.
- General Liability – This protects you against basic claims that can be brought against you daily. If you are working on someone’s roof and you, or one of your employees, breaks out a window while climbing a ladder. If a customer trips and falls in your store, or on your property. This type of insurance is usually required before you can get a business license, but the bare minimum that you need may not actually be enough to cover you.
- Data/Cyper Breech – Society today relies upon technology to survive. Many customers prefer to do business online through websites. Even chatting today is based on computer robots that field basic questions for your business. With that opens the possibility of someone tapping into your files and obtaining privileged information about your consumers. This policy will cover you against these types of claims.
- Key Person Life-Once you have key people in place, a loss of one could cause considerable damage to your business. It is customary practice for business owners to carry a life insurance policy on all upper management. The payout can help keep the business afloat while a suitable replacement is found.
Running a business is a lot of work. People today will jump at any chance to sue a company that could potentially give them a high payout. It is simply how most of society will respond if something happens. Prevent your hard work from being destroyed by getting the coverage that you need, and then increase it.
