What does public liability insurance cover you against? It protects you and your business against accidents at your property or place of business, for example, if someone gets injured on the premises. The insurance will protect workers, customers and visitors, as well as your property and your assets against damage. In fact, some types of insurance are required by law for businesses.

Although public liability insurance policies vary, most will cover hospital treatment, legal fees, expenses and costs. But coverage amounts will vary according to the policy and type of cover you purchase. Coverage will also depend on the type of business you have and the risk of injury within. You should always be aware of what exclusions and conditions your insurance policy has.

The premiums for public liability insurance will vary according to the type of business you have and how many people work or visit your premises on a daily basis.  Forexample, a hotel may be charged a premium according to how many guest rooms it has; however, most insurance companies will work with customers to try to lower premiums as much as possible.

Generally, public liability insurance cover is not legally required for businesses, but some high-risk areas, such as horse riding clubs and other sporting-related businesses, are required to have insurance coverage. In fact, many customers may want to see proof that a business has adequate public liability insurance before they sign up for a service.

What does public liability insurance cover? Coverage varies depending on the policy, but generally public liability insurance awards damages occurred due to accident and/or injuries. These could be accidents and injuries to employees, customers or third party people (such as a passerby).

Although coverage amounts will vary, public liability insurance will usually provide medical costs, legal costs and other expenses associated with an accident or incident. Depending on the type of business you run – lower or higher risk of injury – you should have appropriate cover in place to protect against damages.

Public liability insurance is not usually legally required, unless you run a high risk business such as a sporting facility. However, customers coming to your business may ask to see what type of liability insurance you have in place if you run a company where injuries may occur. Other businesses which get a lot of visitors, such as shopping centres, hotels and theatres, should also have appropriate public liability insurance cover in place.

Premiums for public liability insurance will vary greatly depending on the risk factor of your business; an office obviously has different risk factors than a factory or hotel, for example. This means that getting different quotes and comparing coverage and premiums is a must if you want to get the right public liability insurance for your business.

When comparing public liability insurance, don’t just compare the premium levels, as in most cases you will get what you pay for. Look clearly at the excess payments you have to make (your out-of-pocket expense), exclusions and conditions of your policy. Make sure you compare carefully and find out what the public liability insurance covers.

Likewise you will also need to follow these steps if you have caused damage to a third partys property whilst on a site visit.

This type of insurance is imperative and if you were ever to be put into the unfortunate situation which meant your company were liable to be sued then a Public liability insurance policy would offer you the relevant cover.