Public Liability Insurance – Why your business needs it?


In reality, all businesses operate with some degree of risk that is unavoidable. There's always the risk of accidents or that someone might get injured when using your products or services.


If this happens and they decide to file a claim against your company, then it could be devastating financially because you'd have to pay out large sums of money in damages along with having to hire lawyers to defend yourself against these claims. Having public liability insurance will help protect your business against these kinds of liabilities so that you don't have to worry about any legal costs associated with them occurring again in the future!

What is public liability insurance? How does this cover protect your business?

Public liability insurance is designed to protect your business from claims by customers or clients in the event of accidental death, bodily injury, illness or accidental loss or damage to the property of another party. This type of insurance is important for businesses of all types, from self-employed individuals to large companies, public liability insurance is an important safeguard against accidents and expensive compensation claims.

Who Needs Public Liability Insurance?

Virtually all businesses can benefit from this type of insurance, not just those with a traditional model. Tradespeople such as builders, electricians, general contractors and plumbers benefit greatly from public liability insurance because they are covered in most situations in which an accident can occur at the property of a client.

Business professionals like lawyers, therapists, accountants and doctors also benefit from potentially large and expensive compensation claims that can result from incidents at their place of business. Even events and churches can protect themselves from lawsuits with a proper public liability insurance policy.

With the present rate of litigation, virtually any company that doesn’t have some form of liability insurance is opening itself up to lawsuits and compensation claims that may be very expensive. Public liability insurance is a cost-effective way to safeguard a business against accidents and prevent bankruptcy due to expensive litigation.

What does Public Liability Insurance Cover?

If you are held liable accidental death, bodily injury, illness, loss or damage to property Old Mutual iWYZE will ensure that you don't have to pay out of pocket for any of these things if they do happen. So even though you won't be able to avoid these things from happening, having Public Liability Insurance will make sure that you're taken care of when they do.

We will compensate you for the following:

  1. The amounts you are held liable for
  2. Legal costs of the other person
  3. Costs that you incur to settle or defend claims against your business

What does public liability cover not cover?

Public liability insurance covers your legal responsibility for injuries or property damage caused by your business activities. It does not cover bodily injury or property damage caused by the following:

  • Employees
  • Employee's family members
  • Damage to business property (this is covered under Property coverage).
  • Liability as a result of injury or damage caused by professional advise
  • Aircraft or Airline liability (this is covered under Aviation coverage).
  • Hiring or Leasing of any airport, airstrip or helicopter pad (this is covered under Aviation coverage).
  • Goods (including containers and labels and excluding food and drinks that you provide to your Employees as a staff benefit) (this is covered under Property coverage).
  • Fines, penalties, punitive or malicious damages (these are excluded no matter what type of claim it is).

How does the claims procedure for public liability insurance work?
  • The first step is to notify your consultant as soon as possible after an event has occurred. This helps us keep a record of what happened so that we can better help you through this process.
  • Keep a record of what happened, including the third-party statement if possible. This will help us get your claim moving along as quickly as possible
  • Send it to the Insurer as soon as possible so that they can evaluate the situation and determine whether or not this is covered under your policy based on their criteria (which can be found in your Policy Schedule).
  • Once the Insurer has made their decision, we'll let you know either way - whether or not it's covered under your policy - so that you can move forward accordingly with no surprises along the way!