What Does Public Liability Insurance Cover?

If you recently started your own business or work as a contractor, you might be required to hold public liability insurance by your clients or new employer.

Public liability insurance is one of the most common types of insurance that businesses need. A public liability policy is designed to protect your business against legal and compensation-related costs due to claims that might arise against you in the event someone is injured, or someone’s property is damaged as a result of your business activities.

To help you better understand what public liability insurance covers, we’ll provide three examples of situations in which public liability insurance can protect your business.

Public Liability Insurance Example 1: Injury To Someone Else

A public liability insurance policy will cover personal injury (or death) sustained by a third party as a result of your negligence.

Let’s imagine you own a beauty salon. One of your clients enters your premises, and you ask them to sit on one of the chairs in the waiting area. As they walk toward the chair, they slip on some water and fracture their wrist. In that scenario, your business is at fault as the water spillage should have been taken care of, and a sign should have been placed in the meantime to warn customers.

In this example, public liability insurance would cover the legal and medical expenses related to the claim.

Public Liability Insurance Example 2: Damage To Someone Else’s Property

Public liability insurance covers you or your staff for property damage caused to a third party as a result of your negligence (or that of your staff).

In this example, let’s imagine that you provide removal services. You’ve taken all the usual precautions and are carefully removing furniture from one of your client’s properties into your truck. As you drive the truck towards the new property to unload the furniture, the car in front of you suddenly brakes. You’re driving very close to the car, and you have to hit the brakes hard. Unfortunately, one of the chests of drawers you’re transporting is damaged in the process.

In this instance, public liability insurance would cover the expenses related to the claim as the piece of furniture was damaged due to your negligence.

Public Liability Insurance Example 3: Legal Costs

As a business owner delivering products or services, you’re always at risk of legal action.

In the event a claim is made against you for personal injury or property damage, the insurance provider will cover the expenses due to legal action and compensation costs if you are found liable. They might even hire a lawyer to defend you.

Let’s say that you own a cleaning company and cleaned one of your customers’ homes a few days ago. They injured themselves in their home after you left and are blaming you, claiming the floors were wet and you didn’t warn them. You disagree with their version and are in the right. Since it’s your client’s word against your word, this could end up in court, which will be costly even if you’re able to prove your innocence.

Public liability insurance will cover all legal action and compensation costs related to a claim giving you peace of mind you will never be out of pocket.

Looking For The Best Public Liability Insurance Provider For Your Business?

To protect your small business against costly legal action, you need an insurance policy tailored to your industry. And this can be a challenging and time-consuming task for a busy business owner. That’s why, at upcover, we’ve created an instant quote generator where you can get an estimate on market-leading public liability insurance tailored to your needs in seconds. Simply enter your occupation and expected revenue to get started and insure your business with the right cover within minutes.