You most likely have health insurance for you and your family, homeowners insurance for your home, and personal auto insurance for your car, so it makes sense that you need insurance for your business as well. There are many unexpected events that can occur at any time and without warning. Even events that seem highly unlikely, can cause everything from business interruption to a very expensive lawsuit. Here are some risks to be aware of if you don’t have insurance for your small business.
Violating Local Laws
The first risk to be aware of when you operate your business without insurance is that you may be violating local laws. Many cities throughout the country have very specific laws about covering your business with insurance. Most states require workers’ compensation insurance, but this isn’t the only policy that is required. Other cities may require insurance policies like general liability for lawsuits that may arise or business property insurance if you work in a place prone to natural disasters.
Failing to Protect Employees
Workers’ compensation isn’t just important if it is required by law in your city, but in order to protect your employees as well. If you have an employee that suffers an injury or becomes ill from work operations, it could mean thousands of dollars in medical costs, not to mention a loss of income to your employee. With workers’ compensation, they have these costs covered. As the business owner, you could also be liable for a lawsuit from the employee to help pay for damages, but this risk is prevented with this policy.
Financial Implications
If you fail to cover your business and there is an unexpected event, expect to pay an exorbitant amount of money to make up for it. Anything from a kitchen fire to an accident with your fleet can cost you thousands of dollars. Not having insurance or lack of sufficient insurance can have some serious financial implications.
Loss of Daily Business Activities
Another thing to consider, aside from the financial cost of covering an event you didn’t have insurance for, is lack of daily business activities. Your business operations can often be covered by business interruption insurance if something happens to your building or contents, from a fire or natural disaster. But if you fail to have insurance for it, you are not just having to pay for repairs yourself, but losing business every day.
Property Loss
You are also risking the loss of your business property and assets when you don’t have adequate business insurance. Lacking business property insurance or crime insurance means losing your assets if there is an explosion, flood, natural disaster, fire, theft or any number of unexpected events. Simply by buying business insurance, you are holding onto your most important business assets.
The above are just some of the risks your business may be exposed to. When choosing insurance for your business, consider your risks and those events that might be a bit less common. Just because you don’t have major hurricanes or tornadoes in your area, doesn’t mean you won’t need protection from natural disasters and other catastrophes.
