There are many risks you take as a business owner including damage to property and people due to unforeseen accidents, lawsuits that result from such accidents and mistakes made by yourself or by employees. To lessen the risk of losing money and business assets, holding general liability insurance is a must for your company.
One of the biggest risks as a business owner is the threat of a lawsuit. Legal fees can be overwhelming and may be something you have to face while running your company. Your liability insurance will protect you from many of the most common types of lawsuits. The general areas of protection you can expect in your policy include, bodily injury, property damage, personal injury, business premises,product liability, completed operations and , medical payments.
Cover the costs associated with an injury to a person when your business is at fault. This could include a slip and fall accident in your shop, a bad reaction to a product you sell, or even mental suffering caused by your company. For any harm that is caused by someone associated with your business or any object or place under the control of your company, you are liable for resulting medical and legal expenses.
Affords protection from financial and legal expenses when your business is at fault regarding damage to someone’s property. If you provide services in the client’s home, for example, anything that you or your employees damage while there would fall under this category. It also includes coverage for damage done to property that occurs on your business premises.
Like property damage and bodily injury, this coverage protects you from expenses that arise from legal claims and lawsuits. Suits covered by personal and advertising injury include slander, libel, discrimination, and other similar claims. For example, a customer could accuse you of invading their privacy or slandering their character. If you are a landlord, a tenant may claim wrongful eviction.
Advertisement injuries are specific to claims that arise as a direct result of your business’s advertising. A third party can, for instance, claim that you have slandered or libeled them in a print, radio, internet, or television advertisement for your company. You may also be accused of infringing on an individual’s or another company’s copyright or trademark. You should be aware, however, that you will not be covered for instances in which you or your business knowingly infringed on a copyright or used false information to slander or libel a third party.
With a general liability insurance protection policy in place for your business, you can rest easy knowing if a client stumbles while on the premise of your company and must go to the hospital, general liability insurance covers the related hospital bills.
Accidental injuries and property damage can happen outside of your office or retail location as well. If customers are injured due to activities your company has in progress at an offsite location, general liability insurance will cover the expenses involved with those accidents as well.
General liability insurance is critical whether you simply handle the products or you actually sell or manufacture them, general liability coverage helps protect you when something goes awry with those products. For example, a salon may find that their customers have a reaction to a new shampoo product, or an auto repair shop may find that a part that they have been selling and installing is defective.
There is the potential that you can be held liable for the injury or damage to your customer or their property due to your product or service. For example, if a veterinarian’s office gives a customer’s dog a flu shot, and that animal has a severe reaction to the medicine that causes harm to the animal, general liability coverage can help protect your business from the associated expenses and potential legal fees. Completed operations coverage is part of general liability insurance, and it is designed to help protect you and your business assets in the event that work you completed somehow brings harm to your customer, or damages the customer’s property.
Another important part of your liability insurance is the medical payments portion. Medical payments coverage helps you in the event of a minor injury for which your business is liable. It can cover the medical bills that result from these injuries to avoid a lawsuit which would be even more expensive. Any accident that causes minor harm and occurs at your place of business or at a secondary location at which you are conducting business is covered under this portion of your liability insurance.
