Building a business is hard work and requires a major investment of your time, money, and energy. When you have put all that into creating a company you can be proud of, the last thing you want is to lose it all to a lawsuit, an accident, or a theft. Commercial insurance exists to protect you, your company, and all your employees from the many risks out there that could threaten everything you have worked to create.
Protecting Your Property
The most obvious protection that a commercial insurance policy provides is coverage for your company’s actual place of business and everything inside. A commercial policy can cover all of your office equipment, furniture, computers, and more. It also provides coverage for the building itself if you own and don’t lease it.
Furthermore, consider what would happen if a fire were to wipe out all of your stock. Commercial insurance can provide coverage for the cost of replacing all of that stock. It can even help to cover the expenses of getting back up and running and the loss of income in the meantime. Whether it’s a complete disaster such as a fire that ruins everything, or a theft that leaves you scrambling to replace important equipment and products, a commercial policy is the only way to protect yourself from the financial fallout. It could mean the difference between getting right back on your feet and never getting back to work again.
Protecting You From Legal Action
Businesses are open to a wide variety of possible claims made against them. From liability stemming from injuries on your company’s property to lawsuits based on defects in a product you produce, there are a nearly endless list of ways your company could find itself defending against a lawsuit.
Whether or not a lawsuit against you is founded, it can be incredibly expensive to defend yourself in court. Every commercial lawsuit can be tailored to the specific needs of your type of business and provide you with protection in the event of a claim against you. Among the options are general liability, professional liability – which includes things like malpractice, product liability and many other types of coverage.
If you have nothing else, general liability is a must for every business. All it takes is for someone to slip in your office and injure themselves, and suddenly you find yourself paying out on a huge claim that could potentially destroy your business. The small price of a yearly premium prevents that from happening. If you work in a field that requires very specific liability, you can choose the right coverage to protect you from the lawsuits that are most likely to occur.
Protecting Your Employees
If you have employees, you need to carry a Worker’s Compensation policy to ensure that they will be taken care of if they are injured on the job. Worker’s Comp is a vital part of any commercial insurance package and every company should have one, even if the work you do isn’t dangerous. Injuries at work can take many forms, and your employees could be faced with lost wages and medical bills that aren’t covered by their provincial health plan.
Worker’s compensation will help to pay the expenses for your employees if they are injured in a work-related incident or on the premises of your place of business. It not only protects your employees, but it protects you as well from potential lawsuits stemming from an injury. It’s not just a good idea to have this in place, it’s the law for most companies. It’s important that you verify just what the laws are in your province and that you are carrying the appropriate policy to meet the requirements for your business.
Commercial insurance has many facets and can – and should – be put together in a package that is designed specifically to fit the needs of your area of industry and the size of your company. Most people start with the basics – property coverage, general liability, and worker’s comp, and then add on whatever extra coverage makes the most sense for their company. Creating a commercial policy that works for your company is an important part of building a business. No company should ever be running without the protection of a strong insurance policy to cover the unexpected.
