Looking for Public Liability Insurance?
Although not required by law, public liability insurance is probably one of the most common policies taken out by businesses and offers you cover against any damage or injury to third parties.
There is such a breadth of companies that could benefit from taking out a public liability insurance policy. From farmers to window cleaners, couriers to event planners, if there’s a chance you’re working near the public or their property, then there’s always a risk of injury to them, or damage to their property as a result of your business.
Protecting your livelihood
If a member of the public does suffer an injury due to something associated with your business, then it can be quite costly. If you were found at fault and didn’t have any protection in place, you would need to find the money to cover a variety of costs such as:
Public liability insurance can help you with these costs so that they don’t need to come out of your own pocket, which for most small businesses could mean financial ruin.
Beneficial to your business
As well as protecting you financially against unforeseen circumstances and giving you peace of mind, public liability insurance can also be beneficial to helping you get new business too. In some industries, particularly construction, the companies you trade with, membership bodies or industry regulators may require you to have public liability insurance before they consider working with you – so it may help you gain business in the long-run.
How are the monthly premiums calculated?
Although every insurer is different, when it’s time to see how much your monthly public liability insurance premium is going to be and the level of cover that might be best, your insurer may look at factors such as:
Some industries can be seen as higher risk (such as tradesmen and event planners), so you may need a higher level of cover to protect you against different outcomes.
Public Liability Insurance – Useful FAQs
This is really an endless answer, but someone could make a claim for things like:
- Someone slipping on the wet floor of your shop
- A brick falling from scaffolding onto a car below
- You accidentally knock a hot drink onto a client’s computer
- A ladder you’re using slips and breaks a window
Every insurer is different and so are their terms and exclusions, if you use a number of temporary staff then it’s worth double checking that there’s upper limit. Also, if you do have any employees, you’re legally required to have an employers’ liability insurance policy to cover them for injury or illness as a result of work.
Although not legally, it could be helpful to have this type of policy if you’re visiting customers or clients at their homes or offices in case something happens. If you’re a contractor working with tools or on people’s homes then again it could be helpful to have this type of policy.