Photo by SuperTechnoGirl
If you own your own small business, you’ve already taken a leap of faith. You’ve put lots of money and countless hours into building your business and making it a success. But are you putting your investment and your livelihood at risk by not carrying enough insurance?
Injury Insurances
By law, you must carry WorkSafe Injury Insurance if your business is incorporated, or has other employees. If you’ve already taken care of your WorkSafe insurance, great, but that’s just one type of insurance that your small business should carry.
Liability insurance can protect you and your investment from injuries suffered on the premises, inflicted by you or your employees if you provide a service, or from your business’ products. Liability policies include personal indemnity, public liability, and product liability.
Fire, Peril, Burglary, Weather and Interruption Insurances
One major insurance you should be carrying for your small business is a fire and perils policy. Whether you own the building that houses your business or rent/lease space, your inventory, business machines and other business belongings should be covered in the event of fire or other disaster. If you own the building, your coverage should include replacement for the building.
Believe it or not, it’s possible to protect the income your small business generates in the event of a fire or other disaster. Business interruption policies will protect you from lost income while you rebuild your business, and some policies will even continue to pay out until your income reaches pre-event levels. If your business is vulnerable to natural weather events, weather insurance can protect crop or plant investments in the event that adverse weather proves destructive.
Loss of your business’ inventory or equipment through burglary or other mishap should be insured with a burglary policy, plus a general property policy.
Transportation Insurances
If you ship your goods by land or by sea, consider a goods in transit policy, which will protect your inventory while it’s en route from you to your customer. These policies will also protect any equipment you or your employees use while traveling for your business.
Speaking of travel, if you or your employees use company vehicles as part of your business, you’ll need a commercial auto policy to cover your company vehicles and the employees who are driving them.
Equipment/Other Inventory Insurances
Businesses that rely on manufacturing equipment or high-tech electronics should have policies that protect this equipment in event of damage. Engineering equipment policies will cover equipment used to produce goods, while electronic equipment and breakdown policies will cover computers, servers and other tech equipment.
If your business is food, flowers, or other perishable item, perishable inventory insurance can protect your inventory in the event of power outage or other event that results in spoiled food, wilted flowers, or other problem.
Other Insurances
The good news is, there’s an insurance for nearly any type of situation that can adversely affect your business. There are policies to protect you in the event that an employee steals from you or your customers, policies to protect you in the event of sexual harassment, discrimination, or wrongful dismissal, and policies to protect you from money theft.
With all the business insurances available to you, there’s no excuse for putting your life’s work at risk by being uninsured or underinsured. Make sure your investment is well-protected.
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