Customers or other visitors to your business might get hurt on the premises at any time. If they do, then the costs of recovery might not fall only on the injured party, but also on the business. Therefore, you might have to repay that person. Or, they might even sue you because they blame you for their injuries. This might be a case where your commercial general liability insurance can step in to help you out. In many cases, policies will apply to the injuries others sustain in your business. Here are a few ways coverage can help you.

Understanding General Liability Insurance

Your business insurance portfolio likely includes commercial general liability insurance, also called a CGL policy. This is perhaps the foundation of most commercial insurance policies. If you don’t have it, now is the time to get it. It really is one of the most important types of coverage that your business might need.

Liability insurance isn’t exactly coverage from which the business itself will receive compensation. Instead, this type of policy seeks to compensate other parties on the business’s behalf. To put it simply, if the business is responsible for the harm it does to another party, like a customer, then this is the coverage that you can use to repay them.

Furthermore, if that party decides to sue the business, then the costs of cleaning up an unfortunate mess might skyrocket even higher. That could put your business on the line in a way you don’t even want to think about. Not only could your reputation suffer, but also your bank account to come under threat. In the end, the business’s own survival might be at stake.

Still, if you do have liability insurance, you might have a resource available for both your own legal costs and the compensation you owe others. That is why every operation, in every industry, both large and small, needs liability policies.

Since general liability policies are a foundation of the liability insurance market, they usually cover the most-common mishaps and losses across all industries. Among its covered perks are usually bodily injury liabilities. 

Bodily Injury Liability Insurance

In a basic sense, a bodily injury liability is a case where your business is responsible for accidentally causing physical harm to another person. Injuries of varying degrees usually have a few different types of assistance available under this coverage. A prime example of when this coverage might help you is if someone slips and falls in your establishment.

Perhaps one of your customers decides to visit your restroom. There is a leak inside which has gone unnoticed and untended for a few days. The client slips in that puddle, falls, and suffers a severe injury. That’s a loss to them—the medical bills, lost income and other costs might rise.

Because the customer saw no Wet Floor sign in the area, they in turn might blame the business for the accident. As a result, they might demand that you pay for their losses. They might even decide to sue you for compensation.

Your bodily injury liability coverage will likely be able to help in cases like this. It can ensure that the business has the resources to repay the customer for their injury costs. In some cases, it can even eliminate the chances that a lawsuit will occur. If you can show that you will respond to someone else’s losses with liability coverage, then they might have no reason to sue.

Legal Assistance Coverage

Your bodily injury liability coverage isn’t just a benefit to those who receive compensation from it. It can also help your business cover its own costs of liability claims, in some cases. One of those incentives is the legal assistance most policies will offer.

In cases where you face a lawsuit because of a liability accident, your policy can usually help cover your legal costs. For example, it might cover your lawyer’s fees and defense costs in court. Furthermore, should a settlement arise from the suit, then liability policies can cover these costs. Therefore, you do have a benefit that can cover your own costs in a more direct way than just making remittance to the harmed party.

Accidental Medical Payments Insurance

Bodily injury liability coverage isn’t the only type of business insurance you need, which is why it can benefit from other perks provided in a greater liability coverage package. One of these might be accidental medical payments insurance.

Medical payments coverage can pay for some or all of the medical costs of those who get hurt in your business, regardless of if the business had any fault in the accident. It also can pay when lawsuits don’t arise. Even though the accident might not be your fault, by using this coverage, you can still offer an appreciated benefit that might help soothe a disgruntled customer.

So, don’t hesitate to talk to your insurance agent about the perks of bodily injury liability coverage now. We’re more than happy to help you understand how and when your policy can help you.