Anything worth having is worth insuring. That statement may sound like a recipe for a lifetime of paying insurance premiums, but it’s sound advice. In your personal life, you insure your health, your life, our homes, and your vehicles. If you operate a business, you need to use the same logic there. Consider these four reasons for carrying insurance.
Protection from Liability
Most people think of slip-and-fall coverage as the main issue here, and that is an important one. However, there are many other types of liability that your business insurance needs to cover. If you make food or consumer products, you will need product liability insurance to cover you in case of a problem. Make sure you have good fleet coverage if your company operates vehicles. The list goes on and on.
Traditional Coverage of Property
Of course, we can’t forget the importance of covering your business and its contents against damage from fire, floods, and severe weather events. It may also be beneficial to get coverage for earthquakes, even in areas where seismic activity is minimal. After all, the premiums will be low in those areas, so it’s worth the extra to add it on. Be alert to specialized property insurance for things like burst water pipes, landslides, and other hazards that may be excluded from the usual policies.
Data Breach Security
A new area of liability for businesses is coverage for data breaches. Your payment systems, payroll data, and HR information are probably all stored electronically, meaning you could be hacked, compromising the privacy of data for your customers and employees. Data breach coverage can help take care of any damages you must pay as well as credit monitoring services you may be required to provide.
Professional Liability
Some business operators assume that if they don’t produce a physical product, they’re not vulnerable to liability suits for their work. That is not the case. Poor work by an accountant can be just as destructive to a client’s finances as incompetent medical care is to a patient’s health. Getting coverage for the services you provide will protect you from these risks, just as malpractice insurance covers doctors.
A healthy business leaves nothing to chance. When you take the steps necessary to protect every part of your business, you will be lowering the risks associated with all kinds of bad things that can come your way. Work with a qualified insurance firm to get all the coverage you need for a healthy business future.
Lizzie Weakley is a freelance writer from Columbus, Ohio. In her free time, she enjoys the outdoors and walks in the park with her three-year-old husky, Snowball.
