Reader’s Question:
How can small business liability insurance protect my finances and what are my options?
Jefferson
Oklahoma City OK
As the name suggest, a small business liability insurance can protect your business from lawsuits involving you resulting from any bodily injuries that occurred to people, whether customers, employees or visitors, while they are in your property and from injuries due to your employee’s negligence or actions. Even if you take utmost care in your operations, injuries are inevitable. In a society that seem to constantly love filing lawsuits, having an insurance for liabilities are essential in your business.
Depending on the nature of your business, a small business liability insurance can be in four forms with the fourth one as a new type of insurance.
The “general liability insurance” is usually the only business liability insurance required by some businesses. It may include coverage for lawsuits on intellectual property infringement, libel or slander. You may have to read your insurance policy carefully to know what is exactly covered by the liability insurance.
Common among skilled professional and those offering services, the “professional liability insurance” protects professionals such as doctors, electricians, building contractors, attorneys, accountants and business consultants from personal claims filed against them for malpractice, errors, negligence and omissions.
Manufacturing firms have the need to acquire a “product liability insurance.” This will protect them from claims against the company for alleged accident, death or injuries due to the product or the use of it. Risk due to product liabilities vary depending on the nature of the company’s products. Makers of cars, electrical appliances, medicines, cosmetics and food items are in great risk of facing product liability claims than the makers of papers, books, etc.
The fourth type of small business liability insurance, also considered the newest type, is the “employment practices liability insurance” or EPLI. This will provide coverage to the business against your actions, as an employer. The EPLI has come into surface due to the increasing number of lawsuits filed for wrongful termination, discrimination and sexual harassment. These claims are usually filed by current or former employees and/or business associates.
I hope these explanations shed light to your questions.