Insuring Risks: Better Safe than Sorry!

By: Beth Slagle

Although each business will have different insurance needs, at a minimum here are the types of insurance that a business must have or should consider:

• General liability insurance, which provides coverage for lawsuits against the business for bodily injury and property damage.

• Property insurance, which provides coverage to the business premises, the furniture and the inventory.

• Automobile insurance, which is necessary if your business uses vehicles.

• Errors and omissions insurance, which is important for professional service businesses because it covers claims that the business made a mistake or neglected to do something that damaged the client.

• Business interruption insurance, which provides coverage in the event of some act or damage that causes the business to shut down.

• Workers compensation insurance, required for every business with employees.

• Directors and officers insurance, which protects the board of directors.
While this list may seem daunting to a start-up or small business owner, without coverage, the crippling costs of a “worst case scenario” could sink a business.

All businesses, large and small, should occasionally conduct a risk assessment to identify all the things that could go wrong, from an auto accident to a customer falling on the premises. The risk assessment not only will identify where coverage may be lacking, but it also could lead to improved policies and procedures that make the workplace safer or in other ways reduce business risk.

Beth Slagle, Esquire – Meyer, Unkovic & Scott, LLP bas@muslaw.com or 412.456.2890