5 Types Of Insurance to Keep Your Business Protected

As a business leader or owner, increasing your insurance coverage can do more than just protect your bottom line. You can also protect your employees from lost wages after a disaster. You can protect the personal information of your customers. You can protect your licensure and the certifications of your employees.

1. General Liability Insurance

If the public has access to your building, getting general liability insurance in Arizona or other states you operate from can save you a lot of worry and hassle. It only takes one injury, followed by a lawsuit, to impact your ability to do your job and grow your business.

There are legitimate reasons for a liability lawsuit; there are also folks who will capitalize on an incident that is not your fault. With general liability in place, you will not only be protected from those risks, but you will have a basic policy that you can easily add on to. Additional coverage and services tacked onto your liability coverage, can actually be a bargain.

2. Cyber Insurance

If you have an internet sales base, cyber insurance can protect you from fraud loss. This type of insurance can also help you reach out to your client base in the event of a data breach. If you don’t need a great deal of coverage, you can skip the application process for many cyber insurance policies if your limit is $100,000.

It should be noted that cyber insurance policies are generally add-on policies. Purchasing a separate cyber protection policy will not be cost-effective and in most cases won’t be available. However, once you have this policy added on, you can promote your insured purchasing platform as a safe space for your client data. Many small business clients are willing to risk a connection with a small online business, but it only takes one data breach for your customers to give up on you.

A data breach can be incredibly chaotic, especially until you know just how much damage has been done. Having insurance to help you manage the cost while you correct the damage and notify your client base of their risk. Many cyber insurance providers also offer help from PR professionals and publicists.

Be prepared to have your website reviewed by your provider before you experience a loss; if they find information on your site that increases your liability risk, you may be encouraged to go back to the drawing board with some of your promotional languages.

3. Professional Indemnity Insurance

If your business is made up of certified professionals or those who need to pass regular tests to maintain their certifications, professional indemnity insurance is a good investment. Not only can this protect your certified professionals, but if you offer consulting services or design services that can damage another business if your product includes an error, professional indemnity insurance can protect you from a destructive lawsuit.

This indemnity coverage is not just about covering your bottom line. It’s a demonstrative step in showing other businesses that you take your responsibilities seriously. Some clients may ask for proof of your indemnity insurance. Even the most skilled professionals can make mistakes. Indemnity insurance can lower your risk of a large legal loss in the event of an error.

Professional indemnity insurance is critical if you are handling proprietary information. If anyone working for your organization leaves your office with a laptop, a compact disc, or a thumb drive, you need professional indemnity insurance. If you have an NDA but don’t have this on your business insurance policy, it’s time to change your focus.

4. Employee Compensation Insurance

It would be comforting to think that you can carry less or no employee compensation insurance in the event of a workplace injury if you’re not asking your employees to use power tools or ladders. However, once an employee is on the clock, you have liabilities as a business owner. It only takes one stumble while carrying a box of paper or one fender bender while running a work-related errand to place a large cash burden on your business.

To that end, do what you can to keep your shared workspaces as safe and logical as possible. Set your kitchen up so that spills are easy to clean up. Make sure the space, both office and warehouse or shop, area is cleaned regularly and that walkways are open.

Consider also the age of your workforce. Skilled older employees may be at greater risk of injury or strain at a vigorous job. Vigorous younger employees may need more training and reminders about staying safer. Keep safety gear readily available in any of the more hazardous areas of your business.

Post and celebrate positive safety notifications. Carefully document injuries and accidents that do occur so you can demonstrate to any inspectors that could come by that you are aware of the problem and making corrections. Finally, accidents and injuries are a trigger for training.

5. Business Interruption Insurance

Recent world events remind us that pretty much anything can go wrong at any time. Your business can be interrupted by events far away from your physical location. A tornado in a midwestern city may shut down a critical supplier. Severe drought may force your supplier to cut a shift, impacting your ability to bring in raw goods. A tsunami on the other side of the planet could shut down international shipping.

It’s important to note that business interruption insurance may not cover disaster-related damage to your business. If your building is damaged by an earthquake, this insurance may not kick in; your other insurance policy should cover lost income and wages.

Finally, business interruption insurance generally doesn’t cover pandemics. Because pandemic damage back in 2020 and 2021 was universally destructive, your business interruption insurance policy would not apply.

When you’re insuring your business, do discuss add-on policies with your agent. There are many policies, such as cyber insurance, that you can’t purchase alone. You can also save quite a bit of money with add-ons instead of new policies.

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