Public and product liability insurance is one of the most important forms of financial protection for many Australian businesses.
As a business owner you are exposed to many different risks. Some of the more prevalent risks are those that involve a financial loss to other people through your actions. Commonly these losses will involve personal injury or property damage.
Many claims involving property damage or personal injury caused through your business will be covered by either public liability or product liability.
Quite often a single policy will cover both forms of liability, and in this guide we take a look at each of them in more detail.
Public Liability Insurance
Public liability insurance covers you and your business against personal injury and property damage as a result of your actions. This could for example involve someone tripping or falling whilst on your premises, or damage that you may cause to their property whilst it is in your care.
Claims on public liability insurance can range from a few hundred dollars for minor property damage through to a million dollars or more for serious personal injury that results in disablement or death.
Whether you work in an office, in a retail space, on a worksite or at your customer’s premises, things can always go wrong, and it certainly pays to protect yourself financially be having the right insurance in place.
Product Liability Insurance
Product liability insurance also covers you for personal injury, property damage and some other forms of loss, however in this case it is your products that are covered rather than your actions or lack of actions.
A claim on product liability could involve a faulty item you have installed in someone’s home that results in a financial loss. Although the fault in the item may not have been caused by you, you could still be held responsible as you were the one who supplied it to your client.
Product liability can cover not only the products that you manufacture yourself, but also the products of others that you may sell or install.
Although the ultimate blame may lay with the original manufacturer, it certainly pays to have insurance in place. In this case your insurance company can take care of the claim and chase the original manufacturer whilst you can keep working and earning money.
Choosing a Policy
When choosing a public and product liability insurance policy there is a number of different factors that should be considered.
Although most policies are very similar in terms of their core benefits, the different insurance policies available do feature different features and benefits that may suit certain business types.
In order to choose the policy that will best suit your business it may be necessary to review the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) documents from a range of different insurers. Alternatively, you could use an insurance broker who specialises in liability insurance.
Having the right public and product liability insurance in place will ensure you are not paying too much for your insurance whilst still getting the cover and protection that you need.
Product and Public Liability Quotes
Many SME businesses in Australia work hard to keep their costs down, and insurance is one area where it can be quite easy to make good savings.
You could contact each insurance company separately in order to compare the quotes, however an easier method is to use the online quote form available right here on our website.
By completing the form with your business information, one of the insurance experts in our network will be able to review you information and provide you with a list of the most competitive insurance quotes for your business.
For more information please contact us, and to get a quote on your public liability simply complete our online quote request.