Business Insurance: Your 6 point plan to get covered!
Business Insurance: Your 6 point plan to get covered!
Managing Director of Burke Insurances Ltd and owner of www.publicliability.ie and www.piinsurance.ie, Sean Burke has been working as an insurance broker for nearly 30 years. He is accredited by the CII (Chartered Institute of Ireland) and is a Chartered Insurance Broker. The firm is a member of the IBA.
Many would say that when contemplating setting up a new business, the last thing you want to be thinking about is insurance! But the good thing about insurance is that once you have the right cover in place and you are working with people you trust, you can have some peace of mind!
Typically, the six main insurances purchased by start up business, apart from the obvious motor insurance, would be:
1.Property Insurance:
To protect the buildings, equipment and stock of the business against the likes of fire, storm, flood, burst pipes, explosion or theft, amongst other risks.
2.Business Interruption Insurance:
This effectively is insurance to replace the loss in income your business would suffer following a fire, flood etc at your premises.
3.Employers Liability:
This is an insurance which protects you (the employer) should an employee bring a case against you for being injured in the course of their employment by you.
4.Public Liability:
This is an insurance which protect you should a member of the public bring a claim against you for being injured as a result of your negligence. A claim can be brought against you whether you operate at or away from your premise. Over the last few months, we’ve launched our new website www.publicliability.ie where public liability insurance can be purchased in a matter of minutes. Based on the excellent response we have been getting to the website, it’s evident that this type of insurance is a priority in the business start up plan.
5.Products Liability:
This insurance is usually purchased along with public liability insurance. If you make, alter, repair or supply products to the public, there is a danger that the products themselves may cause injury or damage to the public. You have a duty under common law and under statute to ensure that someone is not injured as a result of the use /consumption of your product.
6.Professional Indemnity or Professional Negligence:
If your business involves advice for a fee, then you need this type of insurance. Everyone owes a duty of care to show reasonable attention and skill when they are engaged to provide a service to someone. If someone fails to exercise this duty (i.e. is negligent) they may be liable for losses incurred by their client, and/or third parties. It’s a very detailed and occupation specific area of insurance but once you are fully aware of how it works, all questions are answered. We’ve tried our best to explain this type of insurance as simply as possible – on both our homepage www.burkeins.ie and our Professional Indemnity website www.piinsurance.ie.
The information above is just a brief summary of insurance covers and does not take into consideration terms and conditions that may be in place. But don’t be worried or become bogged down in detail – helping you through the maze of terms and conditions is what we are good at.
For more information on the insurances mentioned above, feel free to visit our websites – www.burkeins.ie / www.publicliability.ie / www.piinsurance.ie. We have been advising on business insurance for forty five years plus and we’ve worked with more start up companies and clients than we can remember so we know what we’re talking about! Make sure to check out our Youtube Channel as we are constantly updating our videos to make insurance that little bit easier – http://www.youtube.com/user/BurkeInsurances
