What is Public Liability Insurance?
Public liability insurance is designed to protect your business if a member of the public or a client suffers injury or damage to their property in connection with your business.
For example, as a business you would be liable for the injury or damage caused in these scenarios as well as the resulting compensation payments:
– Injury
You own a shop and leave unpacked boxes on the shop floor whilst restocking your shelves and a customer trips and falls over the boxes
– Equipment damage
You are a consultant, you go to a client’s business premises to work and accidentally cause damage to their computer equipment whilst there
– Property damage
You are a builder and you accidentally put your foot through a customer’s ceiling during the course of your work
What does Public Liability Insurance cover?
If your business is held responsible for injury or property damage caused to a member of the public or a client, Public liability insurance will typically provide cover for:
– legal costs in defending the claims
– compensation payments which are due as a result of the claim
Whilst policies vary, Public Liability insurance will typically cover you for events that happen either on your business premises, or off site at, for example, events or activities organised by your business.
The amount of public liability insurance your business may need will vary dramatically depending on the work you carry out but levels can range from £1million up to £10million worth of cover
The insurance is designed to provide cover from third party claims such as people visiting your business, customers or clients. Public liability insurance will not cover you for any claims brought against your business by an employee. In this instance, your business would need employer’s liability insurance. This is a legal requirement if your business has one or more employee.
Should my business consider Public Liability Insurance?
Public Liability Insurance can be of value to all types of business, regardless of size. You may want to consider if the cover is right for you if you or your business:
– work from home and have clients or customers who visit you there
– organise activities or events
– operate from business premises which members of the public, clients or customers visit
– visit customers or clients at their business premises or homes
If any of the above apply to your business, then there your exposure to an accident happening and resulting in injury or property damage is heightened. This can make insurance a valuable investment given that in some instance’s compensation claims can run into the millions.
How is Public Liability different to Professional Indemnity Insurance?
Professional indemnity insurance will cover your business should you be sued by a client who believes that the advice, service or designs which your business has provided to them have negatively impacted or cost their business money.
Professional Indemnity Insurance is related to the service you provide to your customers rather than your duty of care to those third parties who interact with your business.
Which cover is right for your small business?
Business insurance is typically made up of a number of different covers and choosing which elements are right for your business is key. Your exact insurance needs will vary depending on your unique business requirements but some areas to consider are:
– If you engage with members of the public or have premises which third parties visit, public liability insurance may be necessary,
– If you offer advice, then professional indemnity insurance can help protect you if a mistake does happen
– If you have employees, then it is a legal requirement to take out employer’s liability insurance
If you have any questions about your small business insurance cover needs, then do give us a call on 020 8290 9080 or email us at business@anthonyjones.com. We are always happy to help!
