As a tradie, public liability insurance is one of the key types of insurance you need in place to make sure that your business is protected in the event of an unforeseen incident.

With public liability insurance, you can operate your business knowing that should the
worst happen, customers’ property could be repaired, their possessions replaced, and any
medical costs paid for.

So how do you know what you need? Here are four tips to help!

1. Make sure the cover is exactly what you need
Any risks you might face in your business, and we mean ANY, need to be covered in your policy. The last thing you need is for something to happen that wasn’t included in your policy and you’re not covered for that particular incident.

So make sure that you’ve got a good idea of the kind of risks involved in your business before you even take a deeper look at what policies are out there. What is the likelihood of something going wrong? What would happen if you didn’t have cover for that event?

2. Reduce the risk involved
So you know all the risks involved in your business, but have you actually taken steps to mitigate and reduce them? This will likely prove to be in your favour when taking out a public liability policy. Do you ensure your team members are always up-to-date with the latest health and safety training? Do you have a great security system for when you’re not on site?

If you know the risks and have taken steps to reduce these, not only will you have safer working conditions for your team which means less mistakes, but you could also save a bit on the premiums you pay for your insurance overall.

3. Read the fine print
Now that you know what kinds of risks you might want to cover your business for, you can check out which policy might be a good fit for you – but make sure you read all of the fine print. You’ll need to know what is included and excluded, who is covered, and how much for, and any other small things that might be missed but will have pretty big consequences if you ever need to claim.

This is where an adviser comes in really useful – if you let them know all of the risks involved and what you want to be covered for, they can guide you in the right direction and explain any of the nitty gritty details.

4. Don’t skimp on your policy
It might seem like a better option for your wallet to just cover the main things that you need and forget about the rest. But your public liability insurance is not the place to do this. Because you’re working in and around people’s homes with fairly heavy machinery and tools, you never know what kind of damage could be inflicted on people or property. Yes, your premiums might be higher overall, but you can rest assured that if something was to happen, you’re sorted.

Whether you want to get your public liability insurance sorted or check your current policy is up to scratch, Cactus can help – just give us a yell and we’ll get you sorted!