If you have a business of any sort, even a home based business, you may be at risk and different types of insurance may be necessary to protect your business. These risks vary from natural disasters to burglary and from staff accidents to prosecution for professional negligence. Insurance helps to protect the business from larger issues that can occur. Fortunately, there are several types of large and small business insurance products available that can at least help to reduce the financial aspect of these risks for large and small business companies to protect your business from the many risks that the business faces.
The following are the most common types of business insurance for large and small business companies:
1. General Liability
Most companies get sued at one time or another. When a lawsuit is filed against you, a general liability insurance policy will cover all or some of the costs associated with settling the dispute. Because some companies engage in riskier operations than others, the amount of general liability insurance protection your firm needs should be based on these risks. For example, a construction company typically carries significantly more general liability insurance coverage than a local bookshop, since the likelihood that someone will be injured in construction is much higher. An insurance policy purchased through an insurance company can help protect the business.
2. Public Liability Insurance
2. Public Liability InsuranceThis type of insurance policy exists to protect a business owner from claims arising from injuries to members of the public or damage to their property. Typical examples of such claims may include someone slipping and injuring themselves badly while on your premises or who has their clothing ruined accidentally by a member of your staff. This may also be needed to cover third-party property risks such as if your boiler explodes and badly damages an adjacent property. A public insurance liability insurance professional can best help to sort through your options.
3.Property Insurance
As its name suggests, commercial property insurance covers the actual physical location of the business property from property damage and things like fire, flood, hurricanes and theft. Commercial property insurance business coverage also protects inventory, equipment and other company property inside the building. It must be noted, however, that some property insurance coverage exclusions may apply based on location of the business property. For example, if your office is in a flood-prone area, you may be expected to purchase a separate flood policy. Though it is often grouped with property protection, casualty shields owners from loss and damage to assets that occur during regular operations.
4. Workers Compensation
Most states require that your company carries workers compensation insurance also known as workers comp, but it depends on how many employees you have, what type of business you are in, as well as other factors. Workers comp insurance is important because it helps to protect the employee and the employer, especially with lost income. Since most every large and small business needs workers compensation insurance to cover work related injuries, as it is required by law in most states, you may need to check with your state’s governing body as provisions vary by state, to learn about the exact requirements as they apply to your company. However, even if you are exempt from carrying this coverage, you should consider getting this type of insurance anyway even small businesses with no directors and officers. Even in so-called “safe” environments like corporate offices, employees can still be hurt from slips and other accidents. Having this business insurance coverage will make sure to protect your employees and your bottom line, in addition to lost income.
5. Professional Liability
Professional liability insurance coverage is an important type of business insurance to have. This insurance helps to protect against loss or damage if you make an error in providing professional services that result in bodily injury, property damage, or some other type of loss for your customers. For example, professional liability insurance may cover you if you are fixing an air conditioning unit and a piece of equipment is broken off. Professional liability insurance may also cover bad advice given during a consultation that results in a loss for the customer. The specifics of liability coverage depend on the types of insurance policies and the company you own.
6. Commercial Umbrella
This is one of the types of insurance for businesses that can be overlooked. If you are operating from commercial premises (this includes offices) that you own or rent, you may be advised to consider specialist insurance to cover your commercial property contents and building. This insurance helps to protect you from the risks of natural disasters such as fire and issues such as burglary with its associated vandalism and theft. Commercial umbrella insurance also protects your business by extending beyond what general liability covers.
It’s worth remembering that even if you operate from an office at home, this could change your insurance risk profile and it may be a mistake to assume that problems would automatically be covered by your household buildings and contents policy. At the very least it makes sense to notify your insurance company.
This list is not exhaustive, but it should indicate that there are numerous risks out there that insurance protects. If you are unlucky enough to suffer one or more of these, the financial costs could prove horrendous and very possibly beyond the means of you or your business to meet. The legal costs alone of fighting a court case can be staggering for both large and small business companies. It is for these reasons that various kinds of commercial insurance types exist but as even the above-simplified list alone indicates; types of insurance for businesses and business owners can be complicated.
Other different types of business insurance your business needs can include product liability insurance, business interruption insurance, commercial auto insurance, home based business insurance, errors and omissions insurance, and cyber insurance depending on your specific large or small business insurance needs or what may be legally required in your profession or state. If you are worried about your exposure but baffled as to which certain types of business insurance you need to protect your business, then contact us at S.T. Good Insurance of Florida so we can offer some help and advice. The right insurance coverages can help protect your business in the long run, under most circumstances. We specialize in placing business risks that can be difficult to accommodate in ordinary business insurance policies for large and small business owners and getting business owners the right coverage. No matter what business insurance you need, a dedicated insurance agent at our insurance company will always make sure that every business we insure is protected and has the business insurance they need.