Different Types of Commercial Liability Insurance

Anyone who operates a company should understand how vulnerable they are to the various claims that are often faced by many different businesses. Therefore, it is required by law for every company owner to prepare themselves with a primary line of defense by purchasing a commercial liability policy to protect their investments.

With the day-to-day uncertainties of operating a business, no matter the size or scope, it's always comforting to know that when something goes awry you have the backing of commercial liability coverage to help for all the claims that could be reported by customers against your business.

Following is a list of a few different types of commercial liability insurance that will protect your company and you from a fiscal disaster:

General Liability Coverage

Every business should invest in commercial general liability coverage to shield the company from advertising claims, injury claims or claims of property damage. The majority of employers survive through using only this kind of insurance, but if you purchase it as part of a business owner's policy then you will normally get minimal coverage. However, you can always purchase this type of insurance as a separate policy to have more protection. As a rule of thumb, a company needs additional liability insurance coverage if it is faced with increased risk depending on the nature of the services or products that the business offers.

Professional Liability

If your operation is service based, the commercial liability insurance that is most fitting for your business is professional liability insurance. This insurance will help you cover the costs and damages that may be present when a customer files a negligence claim in case of error or omission, financial pitfalls or claimed failure to perform on the part of the policyholder. If you are in the legal or medical fields, you are legally required to have professional liability insurance.

Product Liability

Businesses that are engaged in the selling of physical products will thoroughly benefit from product liability coverage. This coverage will protect you if a customer suffers loss or injury due to a problem or defect in the merchandise. If you already have general commercial liability insurance, then look into the inclusions as it normally has products-completed operations insurance, which is exactly the same thing as product liability. In retail, you might face many or all kinds of claims including production or manufacturing flaws, deficient design or incomplete warnings and instructions. Ask any business that had the misfortune to go against product liability claims and they will tell you how such claims can quickly put you out of business.

Running your own business or practicing your profession can be lucrative but it does have one severe disadvantage: a vulnerability to claims. Though this shouldn't stop you from starting a business, it should serve as a warning and push you toward purchasing the required commercial liability insurance to keep you protected from adverse claims that can ruin your company.

Giacomo Palermo is an insurance expert who has helped individuals and residents in getting affordable, competitive commercial liability insurance in California and major medical insurance quotes for the past 20+ years.

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Excellent Reasons to Buy Van Insurance

When one shops around for vehicle and van insurance, one often makes the mistake of just inquiring about how much it will be to buy van insurance, when in fact, the actual contents being transported by the van need to be taken into consideration. The premium needs to adjusted accordingly, as well as the actual van itself. If the van is doing long haul deliveries across borders, then one needs to take into account the fact that the van is not always going be behind a locked gate at night, or in a secure area at the actual business premises.

When looking to buy van insurance, there are many factors that will need to be taken into account, such as the goods being transported, the age of the van, the age and experience of the driver, the drivers driving record and the basic factors as well. However, in the case of a van being part of a fleet of vehicles that make deliveries, there is the chance that one or more of the vehicles could be involved in a motor vehicle accident, be hijacked or stolen. If the vehicle is stolen, and the goods being transported are still in transit, this brings more problems to the fore.

High risk situations such as the possibility that the driver of the van or of another vehicle is seriously injured, could mean that basic van insurance will definitely not be adequate enough to cover injury to people, as medical bills can run up very quickly and before you know it, the medical bills are the same price as a block of flats.

For this reason, when you buy van insurance you need to ensure that you have adequate catastrophic cover; this particular cover will ensure that all the medical costs are properly taken care of, and the business won't have to close its doors, because they are running into bankruptcy by having to pay for the medical costs due to a motor vehicle accident.

If fleet owners install extra security measures such as satellite vehicle tracking devices, alarm systems, and other security and safety devices, insurance companies could be willing to offer a lower premium, as these devices, effectively reduce the risk involved. Find out from your insurance broker, what kind of measures could save you money on your insurance premium.

Another huge consideration to take into account, is if a vehicle or van transporting goods, is crossing border lines, is the van or fleet still covered by the insurance company the minute is crosses over into another country? The premiums may be slightly higher, but it will be cheaper to check this information before hand, than to try and sort out a serious mess, should an accident take place in another country and the insurance does not want to pay out.

It would be a wise idea to make sure that all these points are queried, when you shop around, as information and requirements differ from broker to broker, and not everything is a standard clause in an insurance contract and that is how people get caught out and left accountable for millions they have to pay out of their own pockets.

Buy van insurance from specialist broker Blueangeltech.

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Employment Practices Liability Insurance, (EPLI)

Employment Practices Liability Insurance, (EPLI)

This policy covers the insured entity and can cover the directors and officers if it is endorsed as such, and its employees from liability that arises out of employment practices. The liability exposures from employment practices usually come in the areas of wrong termination, discrimination, and sexual harassment and/or harassment in general. An employment practices act usually can mean an actual act or an alleged act.

There are many other employment acts that can lead to employment practices liability claims. Not all policies and coverages are the same so you as the client need to be careful in making sure you have the coverages that you are seeking.

Some of the other common wrongful acts are:
a breach of a written or oral employment contract or even an implied employment contract can be grounds for an employment related wrongful act.
Almost anything that is employment related that has been misrepresented by the employer can be being a wrongful act.
Wrongful failure to promote for open positions or a wrongful demotion can also lead to wrongful employment practices.
Violation of any federal and state discrimination laws such as sexual harassment is a wrongful act.
Depriving somebody on a possible career opportunity can be viewed as a wrongful act.
Harsh and severe discipline can be perceived as a wrongful employment act. Sloppy and negligent employee evaluations can also lead to claims from employees.
Invading an employee's right to privacy can also open Pandora's Box for lawsuits.
Defaming an employee via libel or slander will also invoke claims.
Sexual or workplace harassment of any kind is illegal.
Sometimes an employer basically has constructively discharged the employee and this can lead to a wrongful termination action.
Anything employment related that has to deal with retaliation or humiliation of an employee grounds for a lawsuit.
Negligence can arise from a wrongful reassignment of job or duties.
Lastly any violation of federal, state or local civil rights laws is a wrongful practice.

Most employment practices liability policies have exclusions that do not cover directors and officers, unless specifically endorsed, or to cover employees for employment workers compensation claims. Usually these policies also exclude losses from employment related benefits, stock options, etc.

Employment practices liability insurance typically excludes several items within the coverages. A typical exclusion would be excluding anything to do with violating workers compensation laws. Usually there are exclusions dealing with employer employee labor contract disputes. Claims from violating the National Labor Relations Act or Fair labor standards act or the Occupational Safety and Health Act would be excluded. This policy excludes any acts arising out of lock-outs, strikes, labor negotiations, or collective bargaining agreements.

This policy also does not cover directors and officers wrongful acts, or any type of fiduciary liability actions, or Internet liability acts. There are separate and distinct policies to cover all those exposures. Third party, employment practices actions are usually excluded on this policy but you can usually added by endorsement. That would provide protection from wrongful acts by your employees to third parties. Typically you would see that where a sales person out in the field or some other employee is at your client's place of business and they engage in some wrongful sexual or harassment practice. The premium for this type of policy usually starts at a minimum of $2,500 in annual premium, depending on the number of employees, your industry, the limits that you choose, and if you've had any prior claims.

R. Glenn Matsen, CEO, MBA, CPCU, ARM, CLU, ChFC has over 32 years of risk management experience in providing insurance solutions for the small business owners needs. His website contains detailed information on Small Business Insurance and Small Business Insurance Quotes.

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Companies That Offer Business Insurance

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Public Liability Insurance for an Electrician

Public Liability Insurance is an insurance policy where a tradesman can insure against any third party injury or any third party property damage that they may cause during the course of their work. Although this is not an insurance that is legally compulsory you will find that most companies are now insisting that this be in place before you can undertake any work for them.

For an electrician there are generally two different types of policies that you can get; one is a standard policy that just covers small electrical jobs whilst the other one includes 3-phase work which is obviously more dangerous work hence why a policy including this is likely to be more expensive and you may find that some companies won't cover that kind of work at all.

An electrician obviously has to go into homes and businesses alike to deal with their electrical equipment and therefore they could either accidentally cause damage to the property they are going in to do the work for example if they were to knock anything over or if they were to accidentally damage any part of the building that they weren't actually doing the work on.

The second part of cover that you can get as an electrician is if whilst doing your job you was to injure any person around you, the most obvious way this can happen is if you leave any tools, leads or toolboxes lying around and someone was to trip over them, they would then hold you responsible for their injuries and this is where the insurance policy would step in and cover you.

There are three levels of cover that you can usually get with this type of insurance starting at one millions pounds worth of cover and rising to either two million or five million. Prices for non 3-phase work start from about fifty pounds per year for the lowest level of cover whereas if you have 3-phase included it will generally be around about eighty pounds for the year, obviously if you were to get higher than the lowest level of cover then you would pay more for this.

When you consider that if something was to go wrong then you could get left paying the costs of any incident where someone may hold you liable then the prices above don't seem so steep to pay once every year compared to a claim that you could get stuck with that could run in to thousands of pounds depending on how serious the incident is.

For more information you can visit this website that deals with everything to do with Liability Insurance for Electricians

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Guide to Understanding Car Insurance Rates

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Nature's Havoc Points Up Necessity Of Reviewing Insurance Coverage

The first five years of the 21st century have been marred by enormous amounts of property damage from natural causes - tornadoes in the Midwest; hurricanes in the Southeast; fires, landslides and earthquake rumblings in the West; and drenching rain and flooding in the Northeast.

A U.S. Department of Commerce estimate of damage caused solely by Hurricane Katrina underscored the magnitude of these financial losses. The report stated that insurance payments would be in many billions of dollars; property losses not covered by insurance were estimated to be more than those insured.

Underinsurance has been confirmed as a major problem for owners of both commercial buildings and dwellings in the wake of recent hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, out-of-control fires in dry areas, and flooding. Although coverage requirements by banks and other lenders assure the existence of property coverage, it does not always assure replacement cost limits. When a mortgage is paid off, the need for ongoing attention to appropriate insurance becomes even more significant.

The adjustment process has revealed dwelling coverage limits below the usual 80% requirement for replacement cost and commercial building limits not written to meet the applicable coinsurance limit. Rebuilding costs following future storms and other catastrophes will reflect sharp increases in the price of building materials, labor, and new construction standards required by strengthened building codes. Insurance limits must keep pace with these costs of rebuilding.

Commercial buildings and contents are subject to virtually the same exposures and coverage considerations as dwelling buildings and their contents, with several important options. Recent catastrophes have made it clear that many small businesses have not carried loss of earnings (business interruption) insurance. Without continuing income, they are unable to survive. Employees are lost when the downtime appears to have no end. Rebuilding is delayed when a small number of contractors are sought by the many who need them. A business owners policy is the answer for many eligible small businesses because it includes coverage for loss of earnings due to an insured hazard on an "actual loss sustained" basis.

Accounts receivable insurance has proved to be of great value for those who do extensive business on a credit basis. Valuable papers coverage is of equal importance. It can make a big difference to many professionals such as pharmacists, accountants, attorneys, physicians and hospitals. The protection includes the expense of reconstructing records as well as covering financial loss.

Despite continuous public advertising efforts by the National Flood Insurance Program and coverage explanation by insurers, agents and brokers, many people who needed flood insurance did not have it when their property was damaged or destroyed by flooding. Flooding caused by rising groundwater is not covered by the homeowners policies and commercial property policies carried by most insureds.

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