There are many risks involved in living and most of the time, we minimize risks without thinking about it; we wear our seatbelts when travelling in a car, we wear a crash helmet when on a motorcycle and we take out life insurance, to protect our loved ones in the event of our passing. Simply put, life is uncertain and that applies to a business entity and it is the job of the business owner to do what they can to minimize risks, which forms the basis of risk management.
Identifying Risks
What could possibly happen to endanger your business? There are various forms of business insurance coverage from a leading US business insurance provider that protect against fire, theft, injury to personnel and property. If you search online, you will find business insurance providers with a wide range of business insurance packages to suit your business needs. If you need help in identifying risks to your business, there are many free resources on the Internet that can help you with this.
Common Business Insurance Coverage
Here are some of the popular business insurance packages that US businesses require.
- General Liability Insurance – Regarded as essential for every business, general liability insurance covers property damage that you or one of your employees might accidentally cause. Premiums depend on the amount covered and most small businesses require at least $500,000 of cover.
- Commercial Property Insurance – This can protect most of the assets you need to carry out your business activities and covers equipment replacement and inventory loss (subject to policy limits). Many businesses take out a special policy that includes general liability and commercial property insurance along with some other areas of cover.
- Worker’s Compensation Insurance – A workplace injury could be disastrous to any company, which is why you should have worker’s compensation insurance. Accidents can happen to anyone at any time and it is comforting to know that your business is covered when employees suffer a workplace injury. While not really business related, here is an article on the health benefits of soda water.
- Commercial auto insurance – Of course, all business vehicles should be fully insured to cover for any personal injury to employees or vehicle and equipment damage. Talk to a leading online business insurance provider and they would be happy to carry out needs assessment to determine the risks to your business and provide protection.
- Professional Liability Insurance – It is oh so easy to make an error that results in extra costs, or to be negligent and that results in a claim by a customer and this type of insurance is also known as ‘errors and omissions insurance’. Certain business sectors do require this type of insurance, as mistakes can be extremely costly.
Tailored to Suit your Business
By talking to an experienced commercial insurance broker, you can protect your business against a wide range of risks and customized policies are the best way of protecting a business. Check out the US government website regarding business risk management, which makes for an interesting read.
