Public liability cover will help to protect your business against any claims that are made by members of the public after sustaining injury to themselves or their property in connection with your business. Should a member of the public injure themselves on your property or while you are working at a customers property (for example a customer slipping on a wet shop floor), then you may be help responsible.
Having liability protection will cover you against any legal liability to pay damages to members of the public in the event of accidental damage to property, bodily injury or death arising from your business activities.
What does the cover protect my business from?
Public protection insurance will cover you in the event that someone is accidently injured by you or your business, and will also offer protection should you damage any third party property whilst on business. In most cases the cover will include any legal fees and expenses that are the result of a claim by a third party.
Note: This type of business cover will only cover third party claims (not claims made by your own employees), in order to guard yourself against claims made by your own employees, you will need an Employers Liability Insurance policy.
Why does my business need liability cover?
Here are a number of reasons why taking out a public liability policy for your business if a good idea.
- Any of your employees or anyone working for you could potentially trigger a public liability claim against your business should their actions at work result in injury to a client or member of the public.
- Many organisations and companies do insist that their suppliers have a public liability policy in place.
- Due to the increased access to ‘no win no fee’ legal services for members of the public, this may increase the likelihood that your business may experience a public liability claim at some point in the future.
- Even though you may not have visitors to your office or home, you could still suffer a public liability claim against your business should you accidently damage a client’s property in their office for example.
It is important that you always ensure that your insurer knows the type of business you run, and you should inform them of any changes in your circumstances as this may affect your policy terms.
