What is Public Liability Cover?
Public Liability Insurance helps to protect your business from compensation payments and legal costs arising from personal injury and property damage claims made by your customers, passers-by, or people you visit. This also includes the cost of medical treatment and transportation costs incurred by the NHS should they claim this amount from your business following an incident.
Any business that interacts with people needs to make sure they are covered.
At the same time, you should extend cover to include Products Liability to protect you if someone is injured as a result of you supplying a product which is alleged to have caused loss or damage.
How is Public Liability Insurance different from other liability covers?
Public Liability Insurance covers claims for third party injuries and property damage only, so, for example, if you are a limited company, then injuries to you or a member of staff will be covered under your Employers’ Liability insurance, which provides protection for your employees and is a legal requirement if you employ more than one person.
How much cover do I need?
This will vary depending on your industry, but even for businesses that are considered relatively low risk, an indemnity limit of £5million would be considered essential, even though this cover is not legally required. However, in the event of a claim you could be forced out of business without this protection.
What is an example of a Public Liability claim?
Typically, such claims often involve slips, trips and falls of visitors to your premises such as falling over an open or raised drain cover in a car park or a trailing wire in the reception area.
Do I need Products Liability cover too?
If you sell goods, you may incur liability to your customers and others for death, injury, illness or damage to their property. This could be due to the goods you’ve sold being of poor design, faulty manufacture or having inadequate instructions, and so on.
Products Liability Insurance covers the cost of compensation to anyone who is injured, or whose property becomes damaged through the purchase of a faulty product. This could be due to poor design, faulty manufacture or inadequate instructions. Cover includes the payment of compensation and associated legal costs, but doesn’t extend to the cost of replacing the defective product.
Whilst Products Liability Insurance is not a compulsory cover, it is good practice for businesses to have it, as substantial claims can arise, especially if a product is one of a batch and the problem is only discovered after they have been supplied.
About Lansdown
Lansdown Insurance Brokers are specialists in Block of flats insurance, Vineyard insurance and Business insurance. We are able to provide flexible policies to suit individual client needs and provide advice on what cover is needed. For more information call the team on 01242 524498.