It doesn’t matter what kind of business you have, there is always a need for insurance. Most new business owners will toss this subject in the air and wonder whether they can get round it for the first few months, until they can ‘afford it. well, if something goes wrong, that will be the most costly mistake they will ever take. The very least if they’re a one man band is public liability and this covers the business for any mishap caused to any member of the public who is injured or their equipment is damaged by any of the employees in the course of their work. It also covers if the any of your products damage a third party or their equipment. There is employers Liability insurance which covers for those cases where an employee is injured at work or something the company does causes them injury or some other interruption. In fact, basically anyone who is in business can at any time find themselves with claims against them for negligence – perhaps they have been careless in their execution of a task – perhaps the client has been unwittingly given the wrong advice or have simple made a mistake in the production or design of the client’s goods. There is also the not so small business of infringement of intellectual property laws – which of course is deadly serious these days and covers incidences of an employee cutting and pasting the contents from someone else’s website without contacting them and checking that’s ok.
Limited companies have different rules and these usually limited the amount of damages are payable but those policies always need careful reading to ensure it is the right one for the circumstances. Defamation insurance is also an uncommon one but oh so useful. Breach of Contract is certainly one to watch for. Any employee can make a mistake and cause the client to claim of breach of confidence because they had shared commercially sensitive documents or information without the express permission of the business owner.