Why Do I Need General Liability Insurance?

General Liability Insurance is a type of Business Insurance that's a must for all companies these days. It can provide the extra coverage needed to ensure your business is safe in any unfortunate event. It provides coverage for medical expenses, damages, and attorney fees, that your business is legally responsible for. General liability is often combined with a Business Owners Policy, but it can also be available to purchase as a solo policy also known as a monoline policy. 

​General liability insurance can help protect your business and your livelihood. Just one accident can be enough to result in a lawsuit that could end up costing more than you are able to pay. General liability insurance has many coverage options that can be tailored to fit the needs of any business. All of these coverage options provide coverage for different situations, including:
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• Lawsuits, investigations, and settlements: General liability will cover your business’s investigation and attorney expenses, any judgment settlement, and the medical expenses associated with the case.

 

• Injury damages: These can be associated with bodily injury, as well as any property damages that are the result of an accident on your premises, as well as a result of your products, operations, or advertising for your business. More on this below. 

 

• Miscellaneous: General liability can also cover many different situations that business owners do not typically think of, such as advertising for your business that violates someone’s copyright. It can also provide some protection for your business against some alcohol related incidents, as long as your business is not in the alcohol-related business

General Liability Insurance can cover many exposures. I have made a list to give you a good understanding of how it might help your business against certain exposures.

Premises Exposure: When there is ownership or occupancy of property (the premises). This type of exposure is also known as "slip and fall". If you are signing a lease, and your landlord is requiring insurance, this is probably why. 

Operations Exposure: This is usually associated with manufacturing, processing, or contracting. An example would be a contractor paving a road. If there is injury or property damage as a result of negligent construction activity while the project is underway, this would be operations exposure.

Products Liability Exposure: When someone is injured by the product. An example would be if you were using a hammer and went to hammer in a nail and the hammer head came back and hit you or someone in the head and caused injury. This would be an injury arising from product liability exposure. Products liability exposure comes into play after the product is sold. 

Completed Operations: Relates to items that are installed or constructed at a given location. An example would be a contractor that builds a deck. Maybe a railing isn't screwed in all the way or has faulty hardware. If someone is injured, this would be completed operations exposure. As the name implies, completed operations exposure exists after installation or construction and it's being used for its intended purpose. ​Some contractors might think insurance isn't needed after the job is complete. However, it's probably needed more once they walk away from the completed job. 

Policy limits for General Liability Insurance can vary anywhere from $1,000,000 all the way up to $10,000,000 and higher. Sometimes the carrier won't write over a certain amount. If this is the case an Excess Policy or Umbrella would need to be purchased. Every business, large or small, should consider General Liability Insurance. If you have any questions about General Liability Insurance or any other type of Business Insurance, like Excess or Umbrella, please feel free to give me a call or send me an email. 

Jason Matison
Commercial Insurance Agent
Austin, Texas