Making Sure Your Public Liability Insurance Works For You
When your business involves interacting with members of the public, there's a risk you'll face a public liability claim. It's easy to fall into the trap of either thinking you don't need insurance or purchasing the wrong type for your business. Using a few simple tips, you can ensure your public liability insurance works for you.
Accepting You Need Insurance
Don't assume that you won't need insurance if members of the public rarely visit your premises. Public liability is designed to cover anybody who isn't an employee. Even if people who aren't employees rarely visit your site, you need to frame their presence in terms of legal costs. It only takes one accident that involves a member of the public for your costs to become difficult to manage. Public liability cover ensures you can fund lawyers and successful compensation claims. The cost of funding lawyers alone is often enough to cripple some businesses, so don't leave anything to chance.
Getting The Right Cover
Using a comparison site is certainly a good way to get a rough idea of what your insurance should cost. However, unless your business is incredibly generic, it's best to seek legal advice. In some cases, businesses are generic. If you're running a cafe that doesn't have any unusual operations, you may be able to buy an off-the-shelf product. However, if you're operating in riskier areas, speaking to a professional is the best way to tailor your policy. Such areas may include medicine, aesthetics, and construction. Consulting a professional ensures you don't purchase unnecessary policies that may provide you with the wrong type of cover. It allows you to get the most comprehensive cover possible so you can avoid financial difficulty if something goes wrong.
Add On Needed Extras
Your insurance policy might not cover certain areas, but you may be able to add them on as extras. A common example is adverse weather events, such as flooding. Flooding can result in significant disruption to your business and it may inadvertently affect your customers if you can't provide them with services. However, not all insurance policies cover adverse weather events, so if you're in an area where they're likely to occur you should consider adding them on. Similarly, you might want to add insurance to cover any accidents that your employees cause when operating under your name without permission. Always remember, even if a legal battle is likely to succeed, you may lose a lot of money fighting it. As such, having insurance to cover legal costs is always worthwhile.