Practicing Public Safety: The First Step to PLI

Although public liability insurance (PLI) is often an excellent choice for small businesses, companies who opt for public liability insurance should still practice safety before and after purchasing PLI. In fact, the first step your business should take before purchasing public liability insurance is practicing public safety. Before we get into the details about practicing public safety, let us first briefly address public liability insurance.

Public Liability Insurance

This insurance safeguards you and your business against lawsuit-induced bankruptcy. If a member of the public becomes injured on your property or during your business care because of your business’ negligence, public liability insurance will pay for any costs associated with the lawsuit.

This can, of course, save your business from being forced to close should an injury occur, and PLI may seem like an excellent solution to potential lawsuits. However, insurance like this could encourage businesses to feel too secure and to become more lax in completing regular business repairs.

This practice of becoming lax on repairs can unfortunately lead to more claims, and since public liability insurance is just like any insurance, the more claims that are filed, the more insurance premiums increase. Therefore, if businesses allowed disrepair (and lawsuits) to occur, premiums could become too expensive.

Where, then, is the solution to this problem? The solution simply lies in avoiding public liability claims. Let’s look at some ways to keep your customers safe and to decrease your likelihood of filing a public liability claim.

Practicing Public Safety

To keep your customers safe, you must ensure that your business is as safe as possible at all times. This means that any repairs that need attention should always be tackled as soon as possible. Some of the more common areas where repairs may need to be completed include:

Stairs: Stairs and stairwells are areas prone to injuries. There are many places on stairs where problems can occur, and they are often heavily traversed. If you have stairs or stairwells, you will need to assess them regularly for loose treads, loose or missing handrails, and low headers. Fix any problem spots that need repair, and for low header, use signs to make customers aware of the low ceiling.

• Parking Lots/Walkways: Parking lots and walkways provide many opportunities for injuries because they are often overlooked, with far sides of parking lots and little used walkways often presenting the most dangers. To ensure your lot and pathways are safe for customers, walk through each to look for potential problems, including loose gravel, potholes, faulty lighting, and any other obstructions that may case tripping hazards.
• Within the Store: Inside your business, many other hazards may be present. Look for hazards that may cause slipping, tripping, and falling. Additionally, look for sharp corners and low ceilings.

Correcting these hazards periodically and making sure that safety precautions are taken at all times will help ensure your customers’ safety and decrease your chance of lawsuit.  However, should a customer become injured despite your best safety efforts, having public liability insurance in place can help you keep your business safe from bankruptcy.

PLI for Specialty Food Products

Public liability insurance (PLI) exists for almost every small business, and specialty food products businesses can rest assured that public liability insurance exists for their business as well. Whether your specialty food is cupcakes or weinerschnitzel, you can complete your business with the self-assurance that public liability insurance has you covered.

So what exactly can PLI do for you and your business? Let’s take a look at everything that public liability insurance encompasses and how it can be applied to your business.

PLI Defined

First, let’s look at the definition of public liability insurance. PLI is insurance that covers your liability in case of a public incident. This means that PLI will pay for compensation and legal fees if a member of the public — either your customer or just a general member of the public — is unintentionally injured by your property, product or employees.

In the case of specialty food product businesses, where many businesses may not have a typical store front or cafe, this often covers your business in case of food poisoning. However, if you do have a store front, the liability insurance would also cover your place of business. Let’s look at all the possible coverage:

Covers your place of business: If a member of the general public were to be injured in your cafe due to your negligence, public liability insurance would kick in. This does not include employees, who should be covered under worker’s compensation.

• Covers injuries caused by your employees: If one of your employees, however, were to unintentionally injure a customer or general public member, you would be covered.
• Covers customers from product injury: If you provided a customer with a faulty product, like an improperly cooked cupcake, and they became ill, public liability insurance would provide coverage.
• Covers members of the public from injuries sustained outside of the store front: If you are a featured food vendor at a tasting event, the public liability insurance would also cover the food, other products, materials, etc. in the case of an injury (as long as you are at fault).

PLI and Your Specialty Food Products Business

Although PLI is available to cover you and your business in an unfortunate event, public liability insurance (like any insurance) should only be used as necessary. This means that you should do everything in your power to ensure your business runs smoothly and injury free. This will both keep premiums low and encourage repeat business.

For your business, this means that all employees should carefully follow hand washing, counter cleansing, and other food preparation protocol at all times. Additionally, if you have a store front, you can help keep customers safe by assessing the dangers that may exist in your store and fixing them as soon as possible. And, of course, employees should be fully trained on customer safety basics as well.

Following all of the public liability tips and purchasing PLI can help you stay in business, help you stay safe, and keep your customers from harm.

PLI for Home Crafts Businesses and Artisans

For those in the home crafts and artisan businesses, it is especially important to purchase public liability insurance (PLI). Many business owners who enjoy sharing their craft works with the general public do not have a store front and must rely on craft fairs and booth setups often completed by others, which can leave these crafters at a potential safety disadvantage and a potential lawsuit. What if the booth was set up incorrectly and caused an injury or what if a customer tripped over an extension cord? Who pays for the injury and legal fees?

Of course, the craft fair or business sponsoring the event should have their own insurance in place, but if there is ever a question about who is responsible for customer safety in any incidence, it is best to be properly insured. Additionally, the crafter who purchases PLI may also be covered for a wide variety of other instances, depending on the insurance.

What is PLI?

So what exactly is public liability insurance? PLI is an insurance policy that many small businesses choose to purchase to protect them against financial distress due to lawsuits. The coverage extends to any injuries or deaths experienced due to owner or employee negligence.

The coverage may also extend to other areas of the business, including the following:

Injuries that occur on the business property, like a storefront or mobile store.

• Injuries to a third party due to negligence while making a home call.
• Injuries that occur during business calls or meetings outside of your place of business.
• Injuries that occur to a third party during use of your product.
• Injuries to a third party because of business equipment.
• Injuries sustained from knocked over stands or booths.
• Any legal fees associated with the lawsuit.

Coverage does not extend to the following:

Injuries which occur due to an owner or employee intending harm.

• Injuries sustained by the owner, employees, and vendors.
• Injuries that occur due to negligence on the part of event hosts.

How PLI Can Help Your Small Business

Should a customer become injured due to your negligence, your PLI insurance would cover the legal fees and compensation, both which can be very expensive. Lawsuit payouts can run in the tens of thousands of dollars, and many crafters and artisans would go bankrupt trying to cover that amount on their own. Thankfully, PLI can rescue the small business owner from such a fate.

What Can My Small Business Do to Help PLI?

Of course, public liability insurance is insurance, so to help keep your premiums down, you should do your part. Help prevent any accidents from occurring. Watch out for slip, trip and fall hazards. Try to keep your customers from injury.

Together, you and PLI can protect your business from bankruptcy, your customers from injury, and you from the stress of undue worry. When public liability insurance is part of your business plan, you can create and sell enjoyable artworks while protecting your livelihood.

Advertising Public Liability Insurance: Drawing Customers to Your Business

Public liability insurance (PLI) customers can rest assured that their businesses will be covered in cases of lawsuit due to customer injury or damage to 3rd party property. This can protect the businesses from bankruptcy caused by litigation and related fees and can allow businesses to pay for a customer’s injury. Additionally, public liability insurance can prove professionalism to prospective customers.

When your prospective clients know that your business protects itself and them from injury, they may tend to view your business as more professional than the competitors. Therefore, many small businesses have begun to advertise their PLI choice to draw customers to the business.

However, advertising that you carry public liability insurance could make signage and pamphlets rather cumbersome if not handled properly, so let’s look at some ways to quickly and efficiently advertise your PLI status.

“Fully Licensed and Insured”

This catchy little phrase is the most common way to advertise your public liability status while also advertising your license is current. Many businesses have begun to add “fully licensed and insured” to their professional websites, signs and other advertising venues.

Of course, when you use this phrase, you must be fully licensed and insured. If you are unsure what licenses you need within your area, check with your local governing body. Fully insured also varies by area, so check with your insurance agent about what fully insured means to your business. Sometimes just carrying liability insurance is considered fully insured; however, this may depend on your area of expertise and the area of the country in which you reside.

Advertising

Once you know that you are fully licensed and insured, where should you advertise? There are many places in which you may wish to advertise your license and insurance, so let’s look at a few:

On Your Website: The most common place for this phrase to be used is on your website. Websites allow much more space to display these credentials; so many businesses have begun to use the “fully licensed and insured” phrase on web pages to boost professionalism. One tip for web advertising: place this phrase near the top of the page or immediately underneath your business logo.

• On Flyers: If you prefer to advertise by flyers or to boost your advertisements through flyers, adding the phrase may help you appear more professional. As with web advertising, place the phrase near the top or under the logo.
• On Pamphlets: Another place where the “fully licensed and insured” phrase can prove helpful in your advertising is on your pamphlets. It is also advised to place the phrase as close to the logo as possible.
• On Business Signs: With such a short phrase, placing “fully licensed and insured” on your business sign may also assist with professional appearance without becoming too cumbersome.
• On Your Logo: Sometimes the best place to put the phrase is simply on your logo. Depending on your business, being fully licensed and insured could put you way above your competition, so you may wish to advertise this everywhere. In this case, placing the phrase on your logo allows you to advertise the fact at all times — and to draw in more customers continuously.

Your public liability insurance could put you and your business full strides ahead of other businesses in your area. If this is the case for your business, advertising that you are fully licensed and insured could help your business stand out as more professional and trustworthy than your competition.

Special Event Public Liability Insurance

When planning a one-time event, it is often advisable to obtain special event public liability insurance. This special coverage allows you to host a wedding, birthday, seminar, picnic, lecture, show, party or fund raising event without worry of a liability lawsuit. Let’s take a look at everything public liability insurance offers for your special event.

What is Public Liability Insurance?

Before we jump into the many offerings of special event public liability insurance, we must define it. Public liability insurance is a policy that covers a business owner, or in this case party planner, from the legal ramifications of a lawsuit due to negligence on the host’s part.

This means that, in the case of a party or event, public liability insurance will pay for legal fees, damages and compensation related to an injury. This injury must be due to negligence on the host’s or on the host’s employees’ part(s).

For example, if a party host were to hold the event at a public park, she would be expected to make the venue and the food served as safe as possible for guests. If the host were to provide sandwiches that caused food poisoning in guests or if she failed to make the park safe for guests, she could be responsible for medical bills, legal fees, damages and compensation for every injured party.

Of course, the high cost of these fees could severely affect the livelihood of the host. In extreme cases, this could leave a host bankrupt. It is therefore suggested that the host purchase special event public liability insurance to avoid the ramifications of injury.

What Exactly Can Public Liability Insurance Do for You and Your Event?

Public Liability insurance can protect you and your event from a multitude of legal fees that may include the following:

•   Medical bills, claimant’s damages and compensation for lawsuits due to slips, trips and falls.

•   Medical bills, claimant’s damages and compensation for lawsuits due to unintentional injuries caused by employees.

•   Medical bills, claimant’s damages and compensation for lawsuits due to food poisoning.

•   Medical bills, claimant’s damages and compensation for lawsuits due to injuries caused by your props, decorations or equipment.

•   Legal fees associated with any injury, which may include both the legal fees on your part and on the part of your claimant(s).

•   Reimbursement for damages that a guest caused to your equipment during the injury.

Depending on the policy and on your type of event, the special event public liability insurance may cover additional items. To understand your specific coverage, speak to your insurance provider about the basic coverage and any additional coverage available.

Special event public liability insurance is an excellent choice for any large special events, because even while celebrating, it is important to plan for any untoward accidents. If you have public liability insurance in place, you and your guests can rest assured that should any accidents occur, legal options will be available to cover their medical bills and to cover you as the host.



Rental Property Public Liability Insurance

Landlords commonly obtain property insurance. In fact, they rarely fail to insure the building and its contents from tenant harm. However, purchasing public liability insurance may be overlooked, which in cases of tenant injury, can leave a landlord wide open to lawsuits.

Of course, when a tenant or member of the general public is injured due to negligence on a rental property, they are completely within their rights to sue for damages – and these lawsuits can become very expensive very quickly and may lead to bankruptcy. For this reason, insuring against any injuries that may occur on the property could save the landlord from bankruptcy and legal headaches.

Public Liability Coverage

Although your property may be well-maintained, all landlords know that maintenance is an ongoing effort. Whereas your property may be in perfect condition one week, the next week may present you with many maintenance issues. The ongoing nature of property maintenance can leave your tenants, their guests and the general public open to safety issues, no matter how well you maintain the property.

This is where public liability coverage comes in. Public liability insurance will cover the landlord in cases of tenant and general public injury due to property negligence. This includes covering damages due to the tenant, loss of earnings, and legal costs. Additionally, damages to the property as associated with the claim may also be covered.

Types of Injuries Covered

Most commonly, public liability insurance covers slips, trips and falls due to property neglect. Some examples of property neglect that you may be responsible for in the case of tenant injury include:

•   A loose stair tread or an improperly affixed stair railing

•   Carpeting or other flooring that is threadbare or buckling

•   Loose pavers or buckling concrete on walkways

•   Roots and other landscape materials on walkways that may cause trip hazards

•   Improper usage of flooring materials, which may cause slips when wet

Many other improperly maintained portions of your rental property may also lead to injuries and lawsuits, including low-hanging branches, loose baseboards, peeling paint and any other maintenance issues that could prove harmful. Public liability insurance can help protect you and reimburse tenants for any of these negligence-related claims.

Due Diligence

In addition to purchasing public liability insurance, landlords should maintain the property as necessary. Preventing claims is as important as insuring yourself against claims. Doing so keeps premiums low and protects you, your business, and your tenants from harm.

Therefore, landlords should still maintain the property as much as possible, including seeking out and fixing any hazards that may cause slips, trips and falls. To accomplish this maintenance, landlords need to complete the following:

•   Assess the dangers – Walking through the property and assessing where improvements can be made is the first step to preventing accidents.

•   List the dangers by importance – Next, listing the hazards from the most hazardous to the least can help the landlord determine where to begin repairs.

•   Complete the maintenance – Finally, landlords should complete the maintenance necessary.

Following these steps will allow landlords to complete necessary maintenance, protect themselves from lawsuits, protect tenants from harm and protect the business from bankruptcy. Additionally, to cover any injuries that may occur, purchasing public liability insurance may be essential to business success.

Public Liability Insurance for Dance Instructors

In the world of dance, owners of dance studios want to protect their students as much as possible. Dance studio owners therefore spend time and money ensuring their studios are safe for students, parents and the general public. Even so, the most thorough inspection and repair of the studio may still leave unsafe areas, and to protect your students, your business, and yourself, public liability insurance may become necessary.

What is Public Liability Insurance?

Public liability insurance protects businesses against bankruptcy in the cases where members of the public are harmed on your property due to negligence on your part. This means that if, for example, a student were to harm herself on a loose floor board during dance practice, your public liability insurance could cover her injuries, any damages, and any legal fees involved in a lawsuit.

This insurance also extends beyond your students and your physical dance studio. The following situations and fees may be covered under your public liability insurance policy:

•   An injury to a parent or a member of the general public due to negligence on your property.

•   An injury to a student parent, or member of the general public that occurs during dance recitals in areas other than your dance studio.

•   Your legal fees and the claimant’s legal fees, as associated with the claim.

•   Medical bills, compensation and other damages for the claimant.

•   Damages that occurred to your property, as associated with the injury/claim.

Other coverage may apply in certain situations. Since all public liability insurance policies differ, check with your insurance provider about the specific coverage of your public liability coverage.

How Can I Reduce My Liability Risk?

Public liability insurance may cover you in the case of a lawsuit due to negligence, but of course, the usage of liability insurance should be limited as much as possible. Not only will this keep your premiums low but will help keep your students as safe as possible.

To reduce your liability risk, you can simply assess the potential risks that exist in every situation. For example, assessing the risks in your own studio will help you keep your students, parents and the general public safe. Look for any areas in your studio that may pose risks, including:

•   Slip, trip and fall hazards in your studio. These can include uneven flooring, faulty stairwells, unmarked shallow steps, and loose carpeting or floorboards.

•   Hazards in the exterior of your studio, including uneven concrete walkways, loose pavers and an uneven driveway.

•   Risks available in public areas where you may have contracted space for a dance recital. These risks could include any hazards for which you or the dance studio are personally negligent.

Searching for these risks can make you aware of the repairs necessary to keep your students safe. However, should any repairs be missed and a lawsuit take place, purchasing public liability insurance may keep your business safe from bankruptcy.

Free Safety Checklists for a Gymnasium or Fitness Centre

There have been a number of serious injuries and subsequent large public liability claims in gyms and fitness Centres. Many are caused by improper maintenance of equipment, failure to provide proper instruction or supervision and failure to identify and control slip, trip and fall hazards.

Here is a great checklist from Victorian Weightlifting Association

Downlaod the Checklist: Gym Safety Checklist (152)

Here is another example of a Fitness Centre Safety Assessmnet Checklist from  Australian Flexible Learning Framework

Download Here: Fitness Centre Safety Assessment (114)

Public Liability: Assessing Your Risk

Every business owner knows that their customers are always right, but many of them don’t know if their customers are always safe. Many small maintenance items can sneak up on owners: A concrete step that has slowly been sinking for years may now be sunk. A charming tree-lined walkway can now have become so overgrown that it’s dangerous. The exterior window that should have been painted years ago may now be peeling and presenting lead paint dangers to customers.

No matter what potential dangers may exist in your business, sometimes it is difficult to ascertain the extent of damages. When you are so close to your business for so long, you may not notice the sinking step or the overgrown pathway. These gradual changes have occurred every day, and since you were there every day as they occurred, you may not have noticed the changes.

However, it is never more important than now to fix these risks. Our society has become one in which lawsuits are more common than ever. These dangers that your business has become accustomed to could cause dangers to your business in the form of potential lawsuits. So fixing these risky areas in your business store front should be a priority.

Where do I Start?

To begin fixing the areas that may be dangerous to your customers, you must first figure out where the dangers lie. If you are able to step back enough to assess the dangers, you may assess the risks yourself. However, many owners have become accustomed to ducking under a low beam or stepping just right on a shallow stairwell – making it much more difficult to identify these areas as risks.

Often, in these situations, it is preferred to have a third party assess your risks for you or with you. This will enable both you and the assistant to identify areas the other may have missed. You may be able to point out a protruding nail that your clerk continuously catches her apron on, but the third party assessor could identify that uneven cement stair that everyone in your business fails to comment on.

No matter who is assessing the risks, a checklist is often helpful. Checklists can help you take time in assessing different areas, like parking lots, docks, paths, stairwells, and many other potentially dangerous areas of your store. (See our free checklist for details.)

How do I Remedy Problems?

Once you and/or your assistant have identified the risky areas, you must determine which risks need to be fixed first. It is best to list the risky areas according to the danger of each. A rickety stairway, for example, may trump a pothole in the far corner of your parking lot (where no one parks), so fixing the stairway should be tackled first.

From there, work your way down your list to fix the least dangerous areas. Of course, time and money will always determine how much you can tackle and when, but having a list will help you determine what areas are most dangerous to your customers, your employees and yourself – and what needs to be remedied immediately to decrease your liability risk and to increase your store’s safety.

Overall, assessing and fixing your risks can help you maintain a safe and prosperous store, allowing you and your business to protect those near and dear to your store and to you.

Liability Insurance for Personal Trainers

Those who work in fitness know how easy it is to pull a muscle, strain a ligament, or cause other bodily harm during a workout. Failing to warm up, pushing oneself too far, and numerous other exercise mistakes can put an athlete out of commission for a while.

When you work as a personal trainer, these common injuries and other injuries can put you at risk for lawsuits. Your clients may not wish to cause you or your business harm, but simply becoming injured may affect their own livelihood – and may leave them little choice but to file suit.

In these cases, and in many others, it is important to be insured. Public liability insurance allows you to continue training athletes without worry of a lawsuit. How does this work? Let’s take a look.

Public Liability Insurance

Personal trainers and other sports professionals can purchase public liability insurance for a few hundred dollars per year or less. Then, if an injury occurs during or because of a workout or training session (due to negligence), public liability insurance kicks in to cover the injury.

The insurance also covers legal fees, expenses, damages and any other costs associated with the incident. Additionally, public liability insurance will cover any accidents that occur. For example, were your client to knock over a weight set and damage your wall, public liability insurance may cover the expenses incurred due to the accident.

Other Benefits to Public Liability Insurance

In addition to the damages and legal coverage public liability insurance offers, the insurance can help you and your company establish yourself/itself as ethical, professional and serious. Clients will be assured that the personal trainer they choose is concerned with their well-being.

Also, the public liability insurance follows you: anywhere you go to train a client is covered by your personal liability insurance. So whether you are attending to a client in her home, at a club or on a sidewalk run through the city, you are insured from trip/fall and liability claims.

Your policy can also be written to your needs. If you need additional coverage for any reason, you can add on to your policy. Depending on your insurance, these add-ons could include slander, libel, wrongful invasion of privacy, bodily injury, failure to deliver services, and various other claims.

Most important, though, public liability insurance can protect your business. With lawsuits often running into tens of thousands of dollars or more, many small businesses cannot afford to pay for a lawsuit uninsured. These lawsuits can easily put a small business out of commission. By purchasing public liability insurance, personal trainers can be reassured that business will remain pumped up, even during a lawsuit.

With all of this in mind, it is important for personal trainers and others in the sports professional business to consider purchasing public liability insurance. Truly, the decision to insure can ensure a new business succeeds.