Business Insurance For Painters

What are main types of insurance relevant for a painter?

If you’re self-employed, and want to sleep easily at night, then you should certainly think about being covered by some of these policies:

• Public Liability Insurance
• Personal Accident and Illness Insurance
• Portable Equipment Insurance

Let’s have a look at those in a bit more detail.

Public Liability Insurance

This insurance is compulsory for many Australian businesses. Public Liability Insurance could be your saviour if you are sued for injury, or damage to property, caused by your alleged negligent business practices.

Being sued by a customer, supplier or member of the public could leave you with a big legal bill. Even if you are clear of any wrongdoing, as the business owner, you’ll be the one who’s legally responsible for any legal and compensation costs.

Public Liability insurance is designed to provide protection* for you and your business in the event a customer, supplier or a member of the public are injured or sustain property damage as a result of your negligent business activities.

So, what can Public Liability Insurance normally cover me for?

You’ll have to check the precise details with individual insurers, but generally, the following things can be covered by Public Liability:

• Legal Costs: Lawyers’ fees can quickly get out of hand, but with Public Liability insurance you can save yourself the worry as well as potentially the bill.
• Other peoples’ property: If you lose or damage property which was under your supervision for business purposes, then this can be covered by Public Liability.
• Injury to other people: If a member of the public, a customer, or a supplier is injured due to your alleged negligence or on your business premises, then you should be covered by Public Liablilty. It’s worth remembering that ‘negligence’ might seem a serious word, but it can be a simple as a minor mistake, like a misplaced ladder which falls, or causes someone to trip.
• Employees: If your employees are involved in an accident, they should be covered too.

What does Public Liability insurance not cover me for?

It’s worth checking your policy closely as all insurance has some exclusions. Here are some of the more typical exclusions in Public Liability:

• Fines or Punitive damages. If a court fines you, or awards punitive damages against you, these costs are generally not covered.
• Fixing up a bad job.If you have costs due to putting things right after a job gone wrong, then you could be responsible for these costs, not your insurer.
• Damage to your OWN business property. You may need a separate policy to cover your own stuff.
• Injuries to your own employees. These costs, should be covered by workers’ compensation.

Personal Accident and Illness insurance

Imagine, you have a minor incident at work, maybe slip off a ladder and break an ankle, It might even happen when you’re playing in the back yard with the kids, or you suddenly get ill or catch an infection that puts you out of action.

Suddenly you find yourself in a situation where you can’t work for a while. How are you going to pay all the bills without an income? That’s where a Personal Accident and Illness insurance policy could be beneficial.

Personal Accident and Illness insurance* can provide levels of cover for loss of income if you are unable to work, permanent disablement and even death as a result of an unexpected injury or illness (even if it occurs outside of your employment).

By covering your income for a period, you can concentrate on recovering, stress free. Some policies offer extra cover beyond loss of income due to injury or illness, things like death, disablement and business expenses.

As individual policies will vary, you’ll have to check these details with your provider.

Some things NOT covered by Personal Accident and Illness insurance

Typically, the following things may not be covered by these policies, but you should check the details with your insurer:

• Pre-existing conditions and any injuries or illness resulting from them.
• Pregnancy and childbirth leave.
• Injury or illness due to an intentional criminal act by you.
• Alcohol or Drug related illness or injury.
• Injuries resulting from professional sports and motor sports

Portable Equipment Cover for Painters

Obviously, you are your business’s main asset. But, you need your equipment to do your job. Ladders, brushes, spray guns, rollers etc. Could you afford to replace all that stuff should it be stolen, lost or damaged? If not, then you should definitely consider Portable Equipment Cover.

Portable equipment or general property insurance can cover specified items such as tools, business equipment or electronic items. You can choose between comprehensive cover which can include accidental damage cover or insured events cover (for events such as fire, theft by forcible entry, explosion or storm).

Portable Equipment Cover will generally cover things such as:

• Damage caused by fires, storms, water, explosions, impact or malicious damage
• Your equipment may also be covered if being conveyed in a vehicle
• Theft by forced entry from locked vehicles or locked buildings
• Theft of equipment securely attached by locks or padlocks to a vehicle

A portable equipment policy will typically NOT cover things like:

• General wear and tear
• Cracking, scratching, or breakage of fragile items
• Rust, mildew, mould, rot and the like
• Damage from heating, drying, cleaning, dyeing or alteration to any insured item
• Faulty materials or workmanship causing damage to an item
• Theft by your employees
• Unexplained inventory shortage

That’s the prep work done, now it’s time to start the coverage

iSelect has partnered with BizCover to compare business insurance policies and select the one which suits your Painting business. Get the reassurance of being properly insured, start checking for suitable policies online today.