Liability Insurance

Failure to get the right kind of Liability Insurance could lead to your business having to foot the bill for huge claims against your business. It’s important to know the differences between the types of Liability Insurance available.
Compensation awarded resulting from a claim could include: loss of earnings, future loss of earnings, damages that are awarded to the claimant, together with legal costs in defending against the claim, and also the claimant’s legal costs that you would incur if you are found to be at fault.

Liability Insurance is broken down into 3 main areas.

This is an insurance policy that will cover you and your business for any inconvenience or injury you may cause a customer or member of the public. This could be through damage or loss of goods or damage to their property whilst you are in the course of your business. With Public Liability Insurance in place you will be covered for your legal fees and any compensation you may be due to pay to the claimant if their claim is successful.

For example:
– A cleaner mops a floor and doesn’t leave a wet floor sign visible and a member of the public slips and injures themselves.
– Your delivery driver pulls up outside a drop off and leaves his handbrake off and the van rolls back and damages a car parked nearby.
– A window cleaner leaves his ladder unattended and it blows over and lands on somebody causing them injury.

This type of Liability Cover will protect you against any compensation claims made against you by employees if they are unfortunate enough to be injured or suffer illness whilst carrying out their role at work. It is a legal requirement to have employers Liability Insurance if you employ one or more staff (Including contractors or temporary staff).
It also covers you against claims made by former staff members as some illnesses can take time to develop.

For example:
– An employee who falls off a ladder in a stockroom and breaks or fractures a bone.
– A shop floor worker who slips on a wet floor or trips on a loose cable.
– A former employee who develops a respiratory problem after prolonged exposure to unsafe chemicals within your workplace.

A Product Liability Insurance policy will cover the cost of compensation for anyone who is injured by a faulty product that your business designs, manufactures or supplies. If your business designs, manufactures or supplies a product that is sold or given away, you would need to be covered against faulty products that slip through the net of quality control or don’t have the appropriate safety instructions with them.
You can be held liable for faulty products even if you did not manufacture them. You may be liable for a compensation claim if:
– Your business’s name is on the product.
– Your business repairs, refurbishes or changes a product before distribution.
– You imported the product from outside the European Union.
– You cannot identify the product’s manufacturer, or the manufacturer has gone out of business.