Whether you run a multinational corporation or a one-person window cleaning company, it is always a good business practice to do the best possible work you can for your clients and to minimise the risk of accidents. Despite these precautions, it is a fact of business life that accidents will happen from time to time, and if you are not properly insured, the cost to your business can be considerable, perhaps even forcing you to close down permanently.
What type of insurance do you need?
There are a lot of different types of insurance which you might consider to be beneficial for your business. If you use tools to carry out your work, then insuring them against theft is sensible since you cannot work without them and replacing them all could be prohibitively expensive. If you are involved in building work, then construction insurance is a wise precaution. If you own business premises, you will naturally want to ensure that you are covered in the event of fire or flooding. Even if none of these situations apply to you, it is likely that you will still want to think about purchasing public liability insurance.
What does public liability insurance cover?
Insurance for public liability covers you for all interactions with the public. If you have people visiting your business premises or if you go to visit people at their homes or work on their business site, it is essential that you have insurance to cover the cost of any property damage or personal injury caused as a result of your actions. Compensation claims against your company could run to many thousands of dollars if your actions are found to be responsible for the injury or death of a third party or to have caused damage to property. Public liability insurance can help you fight claims against your company and will pay out compensation if it is determined that your business is at fault.
Do you really need insurance?
While insurance for public liability is not legally compulsory in Australia, in many cases, it is written into individual business contracts, so even though you may not strictly need it to run your company, failure to have such insurance will restrict the amount of business which you are able to take on. Not having public liability insurance is also extremely unwise since you never know when an accident may occur. An unexpected incident could leave you struggling to fight a compensation claim.