The Essential Guide to Business Insurance: What You Need to Know
Introduction
A well-crafted business plan is essential for any entrepreneur, and it’s only the first step in ensuring your success as a business owner. While many people often see a solid business plan as the most important aspect of starting a new venture, another vital factor to consider is whether or not you have the right business insurance. After all, no matter how great your idea is or how experienced you may be at running your own company, bad things can happen when you least expect them—and having the right protection can help ensure that their effects are minimal. Below we’ll cover some of the most common types of insurance every small business owner should have on hand:
Types of Business Insurance
There are several types of business insurance you’ll want to consider:
- Property and casualty insurance. This kind of coverage protects your physical assets from damage or loss. For example, if a storm destroys an office building or one of your trucks gets into a car accident, property and casualty insurance will help cover the costs associated with rebuilding or replacing damaged property. You also need this type of coverage for liability protection for injuries sustained by customers or employees on company premises (or off-site).
- General liability insurance. This type covers damages caused by accidents at work sites (including off-site locations), products manufactured by your company, equipment failure due to negligence by employees who work for you–anything that could result in legal action against you as an employer or owner/operator. General liability is often referred to as “GL” because it covers most liabilities except auto accidents (which are covered under auto insurance) and workers’ compensation claims (which fall under worker’s comp).
General Liability Insurance
General Liability Insurance is a type of coverage that protects your business from lawsuits filed by customers, clients, or other third parties. It also covers you if an employee causes harm to someone else while on the job.
General Liability Insurance provides protection for many different types of losses:
- Bodily injury (BI) claims – If a customer or client gets injured on your property or during an event you hosted and sues you for damages related to those injuries, General Liability Insurance will cover those costs. For example: If someone slips in your bathroom and breaks their arm while trying to get out of the tub because there was no non-slip mat installed; general liability would cover medical bills resulting from this incident.
- Property damage claims – If someone trips over one of your products at a trade show booth causing it break; general liability would cover repairs costs associated with replacing broken items like computers/printers/furniture etc…
Property Insurance
Property insurance is a type of commercial insurance that protects you against loss or damage to your business premises, equipment, stock and other property. It also covers the theft of cash and securities.
Workers’ Compensation Insurance
Workers’ compensation insurance is a type of business insurance that covers the costs of an employee’s injury or death. In most states, it’s required by law for employers to carry workers’ comp coverage.
If you’re an employer, your employees will be able to file a claim if they suffer an injury on the job and it’s determined that the injury was caused by their work duties–even if the injury isn’t related directly to their job description. For example, if an employee sprains her ankle while walking from her car into work one day and then spends time doing desk work later in the day (instead of taking off), she could still make a workers’ comp claim because she incurred her injury while performing tasks related to employment – even though those tasks weren’t directly related!
Workers’ comp provides coverage for medical care related directly back towards treating injuries sustained during employment; however it does not cover any other types of injuries such as slip-and-fall incidents outside work hours (or any other instance where there isn’t proof that said incident occurred while performing duties connected with employment).
Having the right business insurance can help you protect yourself and your business.
Having the right business insurance can help you protect yourself and your business.
It’s important to understand why you should have business insurance, as well as the different types of coverage available for each type of insurance.
Conclusion
If you’re looking to start a business or already have one, it’s important to understand what types of insurance are available. General liability, property and workers’ compensation are three types of coverage that every entrepreneur should consider purchasing. These policies will help protect your assets if someone gets hurt on your property or if something goes wrong with an employee at work (such as an accident). Business owners should also think about getting coverage for their personal assets like cars or homes in case any damage occurs while working on them.