Why do builders need public liability insurance?

In the battle to build your burgeoning business into a profitable enterprise word-of-mouth recommendations are key in the early days. They can be a lifeline for the new business, generating repeat customers, and healthy profits. The early days of any enterprise are filled with new lessons to learn and pitfalls to avoid. By considering your insurance options, and purchasing appropriate cover you can hopefully avoid any catastrophic problems.

For a builder, public liability insurance is even more essential than for members of other trades. Your day-to-day work activities will involve being in close proximity with members of the public, either as you work on another person's property, or as people pass close by your worksite. There are a multitude of ways in which an accidents could occur despite you best efforts to create a safe working environment.

Public liability insurance comes into play in two distinct situations. Firstly, if a member of the public should injure themselves through your negligence then public liability insurance will protect you against claims for damages. Public liability insurance will also come into effect if you cause was damage to property whilst working outside of normal your normal premises.

Here are some examples that apply to the building trade.

A tool is dropped from scaffolding and hits a pedestrian causing a head injury. The injured party will be within their rights to claim damages for pain and suffering, loss of earnings and any ongoing medical care. Your public liability insurance overseas would cover the legal costs of defending such claim, and any eventual compensation payments.

Whilst delivering materials you reverse into a wall, knocking it down. The property owner will have the right to claim damages for destruction of property. Your public liability insurance policy will cover you against such claim.

Public liability insurance is a signal that you are serious about your business activities, and your customer care. In the unfortunate event of an accident you will be confident that you will be able to tackle the matter in professional manner. This is essential to maintain a reputation as a solid business that will deal with their customers in a fair and honest manner. Without such cover you may end up facing mounting legal costs, and an eventual settlement that could stall the growth of your business. It's part of projecting a reliable and responsible image for your business, allowing you to maintain a high standard of customer service, knowing that in the unfortunate event of an accident you will be able to compensate any injured parties.

Public liability insurance is of course just one aspect of business insurance for the modern workplace. If you intend to the employ people who are not members of your family employee liability insurance is a legal requirement to provide cover for against accidents and injuries. Likewise, your vehicle and premises should also be adequately insured, as should any tools you require to operate and any stock.