Public liability insurance explained

 Public liability insurance is essential for most businesses. It’s a type of insurance that covers you in case a customer or member of the public suffers an injury or loss while on your premises, or while you are performing any kind of business activity.

For you and your customers

If you’re a sole trader or self-employed and working from home, public liability insurance is still essential because even if everything is going right for your business, there’s always the chance of something happening. With the correct level of cover this type of commercial insurance lets you operate your business confidently, safe in the knowledge that if the worst were to happen, you and your customers are sufficiently covered: medical costs can be paid for, possessions replaced and property repaired.

Public liability insurance claims

Here are some examples of when you can claim:

You own a hairdressing salon and one of your stylists accidentally injures a client during a haircut.

You’re the owner of a fast food takeaway and a customer walks into your shop and falls and injures themselves.

You’re an electrician who, when working on a refurbishment project for a client’s new house, connects the fuse box incorrectly and the owner makes a claim against you for the blown circuits that have caused damage to the property.

You’re a sole trader IT support engineer, and while on a customer site, you knock over a cup of tea on to some computer equipment and damage the hardware beyond repair.

 

Level of cover

Every policy can be tailored to the individual and specific requirements of each business but, in general, public liability insurance covers a business’ legal liability to pay damages to any customers or members of the public for death and for injury as well as any loss arising from the misconduct, negligence or recklessness that has resulted from the its activities. It’s important to note that public liability insurance only covers third party claims, and not those made by your own employees. So if your business owns delivery vans and one of your drivers injures someone whilst they’re driving, then you won’t be covered unless your policy also includes Employers’ Liability insurance. If not, it’s essential that you arrange for this separately.

The amount of cover you need will vary according to your business type and other factors. Many small businesses will take out a minimum of £1 million of cover, although in some circumstances you may be required to take out £5 million or £10 million of cover, for example, if it’s specified in contracts between you and certain customers.

Cover, from such insurers as Swinton public liability insurance, is not particularly expensive, and you may make significant savings by buying a general insurance policy for your business, which typically includes office insurance and employers’ liability, as well as public liability cover.