Whether you’re a start-up business or a small-to-medium size enterprise, there are a number of insurance policies you should consider for your insurance and risk management solution. Running a business involves risk – often risk to your own personal finances and livelihood so it makes sense to manage your exposure, reduce the impact of events and protect yourself and your family.
Business insurance can protect a number of elements that you need to stay in business. It can protect your property – equipment and machinery, and it can also cover you, your employees and members of the public.
Insurance brokers can tailor an insurance solution with a variety of policies to cover your business. So whether you’re a small business, a tradie, or you provide professional services or operate a hospitality venue, we can help put together business insurance to protect your needs.
So what business insurance do I need?
There are a wide range of insurance policies out there for businesses, but see below for some of the more common ones:
- Public liability insurance – this is one of the most common insurances for business, even for businesses run out of your home. It covers you and your team for liabilities to third parties if your products or services cause injury or property damage.
- Professional indemnity insurance – if your business involves providing advice or a service, professional indemnity insurance (or PI insurance) is designed for you. It protects professionals against liability for damages and legal costs of defending yourself from claims arising form an act, omission or breach of duty in the line of your work. Often this applies to consultants, accountants, chiropractors, natural therapists, real estate agents, engineers, architects and more.
- ‘Biz pack’ – this is a bundle of common insurance often including cover for your building, contents, theft, glass and general property. It’s designed to protect your business from material losses from events like fire, storm, theft and accidental damage (can also sometimes include laptops and mobile phones).
- Business interruption insurance – this insurance solution can provide financial support if your business is unable to operate following an unexpected event such as a fire or natural disaster. Think about how you would manage if you were unable to operate due to your product/stock, equipment or premises were damanged. How long would you be able to keep your doors open? Would you be able to recover financially?
- Management liability insurance – protect both your company and the people who manage it from liability associated with mismanagement. It is designed to cover allegations and acts of misconduct and the costs of defending yourself in court, including fines and penalties.
- Cyber insurance – this used to be a ‘it will never happen to me’ insurance, but nowadays if your business uses computers or the internet in order to operate, you should consider cyber liability insurance.
Get advice from an insurance broker
Remember every business is different so you should get advice from your insurance broker to get a solution tailored to your needs.
Get a quote for business insurance
We’d be happy to talk to you about your business and what you’d need to protect it. Email us at insure@regionalins.com.au or call (08) 9301 0562 to get a free, no-obligation quotation.