There’s one thing that you have to keep in mind if your business activates in the public area – namely, there is always the possibility of something going wrong. Thus, accidents can happen.
Moreover, we all know that most accidents cannot be predicted, or their damage mitigated. In short, you will want something that can protect you and your business when things don’t go as planned.
Naturally, we refer to public liability insurance. In today’s article, we will be talking about why you have to make sure that your business has this type of insurance. However, if you already know the reasons, then just click here to get your business insured today!
What Is Public Liability Insurance?
As its naming implies, this type of insurance is meant for either professionals or businesses that interact with members of the public/customers. It helps companies protect themselves against the claims of property damage or personal injury of a third party.
In short, if someone gets their property damaged or gets injured while your company is providing them with a service, they can file a claim for recovery of losses. With public liability insurance, you won’t have to pay any court or legal costs if something like this happens.
Why Does Your Business Need Public Liability Insurance?
You may already know that claims of property damage or personal injury are quite expensive. Moreover, it doesn’t matter if your business is at fault or not, you will still have to deal with the legal costs that are required when defending yourself in court.
This insurance ensures you that, no matter what happens within your business, you are protected and do not have to sacrifice additional funds to solve the issues.
- Protection for Your Company
As mentioned, a couple of times so far, the main reason why you must have this insurance is to protect your business. If your business doesn’t properly handle a claim against it and you don’t have public liability insurance, then you will be losing money, potential profit, as well as trust from your customers.
You have to be prepared for everything that might happen. Instead of having you and your employees worried about that exact thing, you should instead rely on your insurance and not have to worry about a single thing.
- Protection for Your Customers
Besides protecting your business, this specific type of insurance is also very helpful when it comes to protecting your customers. This is because liability insurance covers a variety of costs that can result from an injury or damaged property.
For example, it usually covers medical bills associated with the injury or damaged property, compensation, business disruption, as well as the loss of income. In short, if your business is found at fault, you won’t have to use its funds to pay compensation and such.
Moreover, public liability insurance covers most types of people that your business is likely to come in contact with – such as invitees, licensees, as well as trespassers.
Obviously, the invitees are the customers that willingly come onto your business’ premises. The term “licensees” refers to when your business is providing its services on other sites than its headquarters, while trespassers refer to those that enter your property without any invitation and get injured while doing so.
- Contract Prerequisite
Even though you are not legally required to have this insurance for your business, the contracts that you sign with other people or companies might have it as a prerequisite. If the contracts you’re willing to sign activate in the public sector, you will most likely have to get liability insurance.
Moreover, some of these contracts will even mention the amount of liability that your insurance has to cover – up to millions of pounds.
This is why it is strongly recommended that you look into these insurance options soon after you start your business. You will also have to check with the body of your industry and see which types of insurance may benefit your business.
- It Can Save Your Business
As mentioned above, some contracts require your business’ public liability insurance to cover millions of pounds in damages and compensations. This is because that amount will decide whether your business stays open or closes.
For example, if you run a small business or have just opened it, the last thing you’d want to happen is to pay a lot of money to someone that got injured on its property.
An expensive and lengthy trial will most likely make you shut down your business if it’s not covered by liability insurance.
The Main Benefits of Public Liability Insurance
- Customer Protection – every person – other than your employees – that enters your business’ premises will be entirely covered if something happens.
- Members of the Public Protection – not only your customers but anyone that finds themselves on your premises will be covered by such insurance.
- It Covers All Legal Costs – legal fees, court costs, attorney fees will be entirely covered.
- It Instils Trust – your customers, as well as people that may want to work with you, will feel safer when interacting with your business.
- Proof of Professionalism – it goes without saying that this type of insurance makes a business look professional.
Concluding Remarks
There may be businesses out there that avoid or skip applying for public liability insurance, but they won’t be there for too long.
Just as in your day-to-day life, expect the unexpected and be prepared for anything that might happen! If you do so, you will be able to reduce damages and avoid the loss of profit.
Public liability insurance is essential for every businessman that wants to protect their company, themselves, as well as all the people that may step on their premises or interact with them.
Now that you know why it is important for your business to have this insurance, you should start checking the options that you have and get your company protected as soon as possible!
