One of the biggest liabilities a business can face is not having adequate insurance policies in place. Insurance acts as your protection against the unknown. However, with so many different types of insurance policies for businesses available, it can be hard to know whether your bases are adequately covered.
Allowing a business attorney to review your current policies and conduct a risk assessment for underinsured or uninsured areas might be the only way to know for sure that your company’s finances will be protected in the face of the unexpected.
The Importance of Business Insurance
You wouldn’t drive around in an uninsured vehicle. You know that no matter how careful you are, accidents still happen. However, insuring a business is a bit more complicated than insuring your vehicle. As a result, it’s easy to overlook areas where you might lack the insurance you need. Sometimes, reviewing your coverage even saves you money. For example, you might be overpaying for coverage or paying for a type of insurance that isn’t necessary for your business.
When you’re busy running a business, dealing with insurance concerns can feel like a minor detail. However, if there’s a fire in your warehouse or an employee suffers a serious injury while on the job, your business’s insurance coverage becomes extremely important.
The safest way to ensure your business is protected from liabilities is to understand which insurance policies are most important to have in place and also make sure you have the coverage you need.
You don’t want to find yourself hoping that your insurance will be sufficient to cover the damage when an incident occurs. With the right preparation, you can feel confident that you’re protected from whatever misfortune might come your way. Taking the time to consider your insurance coverage doesn’t just bring peace of mind. It protects you from both losses and lawsuits.
Understanding the Different Types of Insurance Policies for Businesses
There are many different types of insurance policies for businesses. The problem is that when you sign up for insurance, you’re usually speaking with an insurance agent — which is to say, a salesperson. The insurance agent may be more concerned with their commission than making sure you have the coverage you need. As a result, it can be hard to know whether you’re getting sound advice from an insurance agent.
The best way to ensure you have the business insurance you need is to consult a business attorney. A lawyer can review your current policies and identify where you might be underinsured or overpaying. They’ll also look for areas in which your company has been left open to liability.
When it comes to commercial insurance policies, liability coverage, property insurance, and workers’ compensation coverage are the three most basic forms of insurance that nearly every employer needs to have in place. However, depending on your industry, location, and operations, it might also be necessary to add additional forms of coverage to protect your business from potential risks.
General Liability Insurance
General liability insurance (GLI) protects your business from negligence-based claims. Typically, these fall under the categories of either property damage or personal injury. Depending on the terms of your policy, GLI might protect your business from liabilities such as:
- Injuries to visitors and non-employees
- Injuries caused by a product
- Claims of defective or dangerous products
- Damage to rented equipment
- Claims related to slander or advertising injury.
Anytime someone attempts to recover compensation against your company for causing some type of harm, your general liability insurance ensures any liability will be covered through insurance rather than coming out of your pocket.
Commercial Property Insurance
Most companies have some sort of physical location. The size and structure of your operations site can vary widely, which means there can be a great deal of variation when it comes to the question of which type of property insurance a company needs. Some of the more general concerns property insurance can protect you from include:
- Damage to the building or machinery
- Theft
- Fire damage
- Water damage
- Explosions
- Vandalism.
With the right commercial property insurance policy in place, you save yourself from paying for repair or replacement costs that could be financially devastating to your business.
Workers’ Compensation Insurance
In every state but Texas, carrying workers’ compensation insurance isn’t optional. Texas law doesn’t require private business owners to carry insurance covering worker injuries. However, skipping out on workers’ comp coverage is almost always a costly mistake.
Even a minor injury can leave a worker out of work for weeks. Without coverage in place, your company is left liable for costs like medical bills and wages missed during recovery. If a worker experiences a serious injury, they might have lifelong expenses, such as anticipated future income and attendant care costs. Not having workers’ comp in place is often a huge liability that leaves your company open to a costly lawsuit.
If your company has employees, it’s always worth consulting a business lawyer about what type of workers’ compensation coverage can keep you protected from serious financial losses down the road.
Other Common Types of Insurance
While liability, property, and workers’ comp insurance are basic starting points, there are often many situations these policies don’t cover. Depending on your business needs, location, industry, and operations, there are a variety of policy add-ons an individual business might need. Some of the most common include:
- Commercial auto insurance
- Business interruption insurance
- Data breach insurance
- Cyber crime insurance.
A business’s precise insurance needs are often highly individual. For example, if you manufacture a product that brings a higher-than-normal risk of product liability claims, you might want to opt for product liability coverage in addition to general liability coverage. The more you explore the potential for things to go wrong, the easier it becomes to see that there’s no replacement for having an experienced business attorney advising you on your coverage.
Call a Houston Business Lawyer for Help with Your Business Insurance
If you’re a Houston business owner trying to sort out which types of insurance policies for businesses you need to have in place, Weisblatt Law Firm can help. With decades of experience and a lengthy list of positive client reviews, you know you’re choosing a firm that can guide you to protect your company from liabilities.
Call (713) 666-1981 today to schedule a free phone interview with a Houston business attorney at Weisblatt Law Firm.
Attorney Andrew Weisblatt
Mr. Weisblatt has practiced continuously since becoming licensed in 1992 and has represented businesses ranging in size from one person start-up ventures to multi-national corporations employing hundreds of people in multiple countries. From 2005 through 2009 Mr. Weisblatt was in-house counsel and chief operating officer of a multi-national corporation in the steel products industry. That in-house position provided valuable insight into how businesses work and what they actually need from their lawyers – both in-house and outside counsel. Attorney Bio
