The How of Business Podcast – Business Insurance Episodes
These episodes of The How of Business podcast are about Small Business Insurance, including Commercial Liability Insurance Policies and Workers Compensation Insurance.
Small business owners may require various types of insurance coverage depending on their specific business activities, industry, and location.
Types of Small Business Insurance:
- General Liability Insurance: Protects against financial loss as a result of bodily injury, property damage, medical expenses, libel, slander, defending lawsuits, and settlement bonds or judgments. Most small businesses need some level of liability insurance to protect the business and the owners.
- Professional Liability Insurance (Errors & Omissions): Covers businesses against malpractice, errors, and negligence while providing services to customers. A Travel Consulting business, for example, should carry an Errors and Omissions policy to cover for any liability in the case of an error with reservations that results in a material impact on the client.
- Property Insurance: Covers damage to business property and inventory due to events like fire, theft, and natural disasters. If your small business maintains any inventory, then you should obtain property insurance.
- Workers’ Compensation Insurance: Provides wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment. Most states requires small businesses of a certain size to carry Workers’ Comp Insurance. Even if your state does not require it, you should seriously consider carrying this policy to protect your business and your employees.
- Business Interruption Insurance: Compensates for lost income during events that cause a disruption to the normal course of business.
- Product Liability Insurance: For small businesses that manufacture, wholesale, distribute, or retail a product, this type of insurance covers financial loss due to a defective product that causes injury or bodily harm.
- Commercial Auto Insurance: Covers vehicles owned by the business for business use, including legal costs and damage from an accident, theft, vandalism, and other incidents. You may also need to coverage for non-owned vehicles used by your employees.
- Cyber Liability Insurance: Provides protection for businesses against cyber threats and data breaches, covering costs related to data recovery, legal fees, and customer notification.
- Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI): Covers wrongful acts arising from the employment process, including claims of discrimination, wrongful termination, and sexual harassment.
- Directors and Officers Insurance (D&O): Protects the personal assets of corporate directors and officers, and their spouses, in the event they are personally sued for actual or alleged wrongful acts in managing a company.
- Business Owner’s Policy (BOP): A package that combines various types of coverage into one bundle, usually including property, general liability, and business interruption insurance.
- Health Insurance: If a business has employees, the owner might consider offering health insurance benefits.
- Key Member Life Insurance: Benefits the business or other partners if one of the key partners dies or disabled. This type of life insurance coverage may be related to buy-out agreement.
The specific needs vary greatly among different businesses. It’s important for small business owners to consult with insurance professionals to understand the risks associated with their specific type of business and get appropriate coverage.