So, the typical office is a nice safe and secure place where nothing possibly can wrong?
Sadly, that’s far from the truth.
Office myths
In our experience at Specialist4Business, many business people can instinctively see the risks inherent in some business. Shop floors, building sites, transport, they’re all examples of business environments where danger might be lurking.
It can sometimes be a little harder to see how an office environment can be likewise. After all, they’re often warm and comfortable locations – and that PC is hardly likely to bite!
However, office environments bring with them their own risks that the prudent business owner might wish to consider insuring against.
Office risks
Office insurance exists for one reason, namely the fact that things can and do go wrong in this seemingly most innocuous of surroundings. This isn’t a question of defining unlikely theoretical circumstances, this is about real incidents that have happened and which have resulted in very large costs as a result.
What does office insurance cover?
Office insurance typically offers financial cover against some of the following risk types, some of which might be obvious but others less so:
- buildings cover – a conventional form of protection should something go wrong which damages the building. Note that if you don’t own the building you operate in, some elements of this cover will be the responsibility of the owner but other components might not be. One such example might be if the buildings were damaged by a fire caused by your activities;
- contents protection – again, this should be familiar but it’s worth highlighting that contents cover might be a different thing to “stock” due to the values involved, as might be specialised IT equipment etc. Separate cover in those categories might be advisable;
- stock and equipment cover – see above;
- public liability – an exceptionally important form of office insurance that covers situations where a member of the public is injured on your premises and claims compensation as a result.
Not all, but some, office insurance policies can incorporate further elements of cover such as:
- employers’ liability insurance – this is not only important but also typically a legal requirement where you have employees in your offices. It covers the costs associated with awards against you, should one of them be injured as a result of their legitimate business activities on your behalf. Even in an office, trips, falls, electric shocks and so on; are all ever-present risks;
- professional indemnity or product liability insurance – these might be required depending upon the exact nature of your office activities. If you’re offering advice or guidance to customers or selling a product, you may be sued by them if it goes wrong and your customer suffers injury, damage to their property or financial loss as a result.
It may be that in reading this you’re thinking that some of these elements won’t apply in your circumstances. That is perfectly possible.
However, office insurance policies are typically very customisable and can be configured to provide the cover required for your individual and unique circumstances.
If you’d like to know more about protecting your interests with office insurance, why not contact us and we’ll help you to clarify your risks and options.
