Short answer: Australia is second only to the United States in the size of court awards for personal injury. The highest claim here to date for one person is a whopping $19 million – and half of that was legal costs.
Now picture a client tripping over some material on one of your work sites. That person could bring an injury claim against you. Bear in mind that the injury can be physical or psychological. Or maybe something gets dropped and damages property belonging to a member of the public nearby. Even if the claim is never proved the legal costs of defending it could seriously damage your business – and your reputation.
To put this into context, under Australian law a business or person can be held responsible for injury, loss or damage to a client, customer or member of the public (employees of your business are excluded because they are protected by work cover). This also applies to your products, an important consideration for construction trades.
Protect yourself and your business
Even if you are 100% safety conscious accidents can sometimes happen. So how can you plan for the unexpected? Well, that’s what tradies’ public liability insurance is for.
When looking at public liability insurance the factors to consider include:
- your type of business and what your products are
- how much excess you are comfortable with paying
- what needs to be covered: employees and divisions of your business
- whether you want to package the policy with professional indemnity or as a standalone policy.
Because imar is a trades insurance specialists, you can rely on us to provide you with the kind of cover that you need. Just talk to us. Give imar a call today on 1800 284 627 for an obligation-free discussion and quotation on your business insurance needs or fill in your details on our get a quote page.
This is a general overview of insurance issues. To the extent that any material in this document may be considered advice, it does not take into account your objectives, needs or financial situation. You should consider whether the advice is appropriate for you and review any relevant Product Disclosure Statement and policy wording before taking out an insurance policy.
