There are many types of insurance businesses need – property, cyber, business interruption, vehicle and more. But one type of business insurance should be on the top priority for any business – liability insurance. Chances are you have included it in your coverage, but do you have enough coverage? Is your business liability insurance tailored to your industry? Your company size? Your number of employees? No matter how well you plan, how much you train your employees, how many safety briefings you have, accidents can and will happen. Protect yourself, your assets and your employees with the right liability protection in your business insurance policy.
What is General Liability Insurance? It’s called “general” for a reason – it covers a lot of what can go wrong. Basically, it’s part of the business insurance that covers lawsuits from third parties, or, anyone outside the company. General liability will not cover any injuries to your own employees, that’s where worker’s compensation comes in. Some of the best parts of having great general liability coverage is how much it will cover including:
- Lawyer’s fees
- Court expenses
- Damages
- Settlements
Now let’s look at what lawsuits are covered:
- Property damage
- Reputation damage
- Copyright infringement
- Slip and fall
- Bodily injuries
- False advertising
At least one of these can happen to any company. If your business is a brick-and-mortar, you might face bodily injuries. If you work in customers’ houses doing renovation work, you can have property damage. Any company can be subject to any kind of liability making general liability insurance an important part of overall business insurance.
While liability claims make up only about 30% of all claims (theft and weather-related claims are the biggest) they are the costliest. Here are some of the costs associated with liability claims – reputational harm ($50,000); product liability ($35,000); customer injury or damage ($30,000); customer slip and fall ($20,000); struck by object ($10,000). Does your company have these kinds of funds available? And the costs for business interruptions, lawyer fees, court costs? Or, even the time? Chances are you have a friend or peer that has talked about the headache of a claim that took it’s emotional and economic toll. It’s going to happen to eventually happen to any business at one time or another. Having strong liability coverage as part of your business insurance policy will mean it’s not only covered but your carrier will also handle everything for you.
Beck Insurance has helped businesses throughout Northwest Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana, including the communities of for Bryan OH, Defiance OH, Sylvania OH, Toledo OH, Waterville OH, Wauseon OH with comprehensive business insurance for over 70 years.