If you are one of the armies of self-employed people in Australia, you may be focused on providing a first-class service. Yet, are you protecting yourself as much as possible as you go about your daily work? Do you need some form of insurance even though you do not interact with people on a face-to-face basis?
Insurance for Service Providers
Certainly, you may understand that insurance is necessary if you had a "bricks and mortar" establishment, like a shop or office, and people visited you for advice or to purchase things. After all, when people are in your place of business, they may slip and fall, and in this case, you may be liable. Also, if you produce a gadget of some kind for sale, insurance is necessary. In this case, somebody could sustain an injury when using your product and may turn to you for compensation.
But if you provide a service and there is no physical interaction per se, aren't the risks negligible? The answer to this depends on the situation.
Assessing Your Situation
For example, imagine if you are an independent real estate advisor. You conduct almost all of your business online by introducing potential clients to properties, linking them with other service providers and giving them your advice. This may seem quite clear-cut, but if you have made a recommendation and prospects visit the said house to take a closer look, they might pick up an injury when inside. What will happen in this case? If you have public liability insurance of your own, you would probably be covered in such an eventuality.
If you are an event organiser, then, once again, you are a service provider, but you definitely need to consider public insurance liability in this case. After all, you are creating and staging an event, and many different things can go wrong. Without this type of coverage, you could be opening yourself up to financial ruin in the worst-case scenario.
Do You Need Coverage?
Self-employed service providers come in all shapes and forms, and one type of protection may not be appropriate in all situations. This is why you should talk with an independent expert to get their advice. They'll have a look at exactly what you do and visualise all eventualities. They will then be able to connect you with an insurance company as needed so that you can get the right type of coverage before you go any further.
For more information about public liability insurance, contact a local insurance provider.
Share19 January 2022
Once you have arranged a commercial insurance policy, it can be very tempting to just stick with the same company and terms and conditions. However, doing so could be a mistake. The world of commercial insurance is always changing which means it is possible to switch providers in order to secure a lower premium or better cover. I didn't realise this until I got talking to an insurance broker at a party. The broker explained how foolish I was being by sticking with the same provider and gave me lots of fantastic advice. I hope this advice will also help you.
