As a tradesman, you may be in one in a wide variety of professions. Whether you are a plumber, an electrician, a dressmaker, a carpenter, a construction worker, a decorator or a builder, your skills have evolved over many years of practice. Your clients depend on you to provide them with service or consultation. If things are good and a project goes as planned, your client is happy and will sing your praises. But if that is not the case and you are sued, you will have to come up with the money required for legal expenses. Your professional may have more than one hazard involved and that may cause problems as well. That is why public liability insurance is something all tradesmen need.
Deciding the insurance you need
The first thing to consider is whether you are employed by someone or you are self-employed and you employ other people. In case you are employed by someone, you should definitely have a look at the insurance they have to see whether you and your interests are covered. If not, you should get public liability insurance as soon as possible.
If you are self-employed, a contractor, own a business or are in a partnership, talk to your insurance agent because you definitely need this cover.
As a tradesman, what kind of plan suits you perfectly depends on a lot of factors including but not limited to your profession, the profits, your liability and responsibility, etc. It is best to talk to a good insurance agent about it.
What Public Liability Insurance is
No matter what your profession, this is a cover that is going to be useful. It is basically a cover that is going to protect your business from claims arising out of injury or accidental damage to a member of the public or a customer that relates to your work. The truth is that people can be vicious these days and even a single tiny mistake on your part can catapult and result in thousands of dollars in claim money. This can effectively devastate you and your business. This is especially true if you are working in a profession that is high-risk such as that of a roofer. You should also know that if you are an independent contractor, some companies may not look at you at all or give you a contract if you don’t have some sort of a public liability insurance cover.
Is Employers Liability Insurance a requirement?
If you employ one or more persons in your business, then you most definitely should buy this cover. Why? If any of your employees get injured or fall sick from reasons of the work you give them, then they can sue you. It does not matter whether an employee is a temporary, permanent or contractual one, he can sue you and if it is proven in court that he is right and you are responsible for his situation, then you may have to end up paying a huge amount of money as claim and fine. With employers liability cover, all these expenses including your lawyer’s fees will be covered. For more information, this link will be helpful.
Being smart is the key
When you are looking for public liability insurance cover for yourself, here are some of the things to remember:
· Don’t buy the cheapest cover. It may not be adequate when you need it.
· Mistakes and accidents on the job happen. However, being as careful as possible when doing the work and handling your employees is the best way to go about it.
· It is best to try and meet the client’s expectations as much as possible.