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professional liability insurance

Professional Liability Insurance for PEOs

Professional Liability Insurance

Professional employer organizations are in the business of being the boss, and are usually good at what they do. With authority comes responsibility, however, and the need for PEO professional liability insurance is substantial. Here is an explanation of what PEOs do and the risks they face.

What PEOs Do

A PEO partners with companies to relieve them of leadership responsibilities associated with managing personnel. As co-employers, they provide the following services:

Risks PEOs Face

Running a PEO encompasses all the financial risks associated with any business, such as having members of the general public sue for personal injury or copyright infringement. Besides these, a PEO also assumes risk from its clients, including liability for the actions of their co-employees.

What Professional Liability Covers

Professional liability protects a PEO from claims that it made mistakes causing a client to lose money. Examples of potential claims include the following:

  • Giving bad advice
  • Neglecting to fulfill contractual agreement
  • Misrepresenting employee benefits

Professional liability insurance protects PEOs from claims that occur as it fulfills its duties of managing another company’s human resources. Whether or not the claims are true, a good policy can pay to defend a PEO’s reputation.

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Maritime Employees

Insurance for Maritime Employees

Maritime Employees

Protecting workers on marine vessels is an important responsibility of their employers. Maritime workers face many types of situations and potential risks while on the job. Those who employ them need to understand these risks and consider how to cover their workers. A good option is maritime employer’s liability, or MEL coverage.

MEL Coverage Explained

Maritime employer’s liability is a valuable type of insurance that covers maritime employees on any vessel. Workers are covered in the event of injury, illness, or death while working on their employers’ vessels, and they also are covered when working on boats of any size and type not owned by their employers. MEL coverage also extends to special contractors working on vessels sailing on open waters.

This type of insurance works for multiple industries, including:

  • Surveying and scientific research
  • Seismic studies
  • Maritime construction
  • Drilling operations

Maritime employer’s liability is not the same as worker’s compensation, and it is not required by the federal government or by any state laws. This lack of legal obligation, however, does not detract from the importance of this type of insurance.

Financial Exposures

Without MEL insurance, maritime employers are liable for award claims in litigation. Such awards could be financially catastrophic. In addition to claims, employers also are liable for legal expenses.

Maritime employer’s liability coverage is an effective way for employers to protect their employees and their own financial interests.

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Teacher Liability Insurance

What You Should Know About Teacher Liability Insurance

Teacher Liability Insurance

Defending yourself from a lawsuit, even if unfounded, can be costly. For educators, teacher liability insurance will protect your assets if you are sued for an incident related to your job duties.

Protection Offered

Even if you are found not to be at fault, lawsuits can be costly. Liability insurance covers the cost of attorney fees. If you are found liable, it also covers the judgments against you.

Policy Types

Policies can be purchased by an entity such as a school district. This type of insurance covers employees, volunteers, board members and the like. Individual policies are often an added benefit included with membership in a professional educators organization.

Covered Exposures

There are many potential exposures for an educator. Teacher liability coverage protects you against classroom-related allegations such as failure to educate or providing inappropriate instruction. It can also protect you should a student be injured while under your care. Liability insurance is also important for administrators and school board members who may find themselves exposed to lawsuits related to:

  • Discrimination or accusation of violating a student’s civil rights
  • Suspension or expulsion of student
  • Employment practices such as hiring an unqualified person

A teacher liability insurance policy helps protect you and your assets from the risks related to your profession.

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Boat Insurance

The Basics of Boat Insurance

Boat Insurance

When you choose an insurance policy, you decide how much coverage you need and what types fit your unique requirements. The best boat insurance covers two primary risk areas, physical damage, and liability.

What Does Boat Insurance Cover?

Many variables affect the compensation you receive for a claim, such as your deductible amount, limits and replacement terms. Your policy may cover the following:

  • Comprehensive: This protects you if someone steals, damages or vandalizes your vessel.
  • Property liability:This covers the costs of repairs for damage you cause to other vessels, docks or buildings.
  • Collision coverage: This helps pay for the cost of replacing or repairing your ship in the event of a crash.
  • Bodily injury: If you injure a person in an accident involving your boat, this protection mitigates the cost of legal expenses, lost income and medical bills.
  • Additional options: There are various extensions available to include in your policy, depending on your needs. You can add protections to cover accidents caused by uninsured individuals.

How Much Coverage Do You Need?

The amount of insurance you obtain for your vessel depends on its size, age and value. Consider how you use your watercraft, as that will affect the type of policies you require. For instance, fast speed boats should obtain more liability.

To find the best boat insurance, contact an experienced agency that can help you choose the policy you need to ensure peace of mind before you set sail.

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Liability Insurance

What Does Liability Insurance Cover for Water Companies?

Liability Insurance

No matter your industry, some form of liability insurance is necessary to protect your company. While most businesses start with general coverage, almost all of them benefit from a tailored policy that includes specific language covering common claim situations the client faces. Water treatment and supply companies are no different. So what does liability insurance for water companies cover? In addition to general liability coverage, it has public and professional liability portions tailored to the realities of your business’s role in the industry. Experienced agents can quote for practically any water-related business, whether the company is treating water, making treatment chemicals, working with boilers, or in water testing.

Hazardous Materials Coverage

Water companies are among the industries that need to invest seriously in pollution insurance, especially those that treat wastewater. That’s why a complete liability package has to include pollution provisions, as well as options for excess liability coverage that can be applied to any category of liability in the policy. A complete policy will also be built around your business assets and liabilities related to them, so it may include property insurance, commercial auto, cybercrime coverage, or other individualized provisions to make sure you are comprehensively covered. To learn more about what your company needs, schedule an insurance review with an agent who has experience in this industry. Comprehensive liability coverage is easier to manage and usually more cost-effective than seeking out individual policies for different kinds of liability insurance.

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Customers

Top 3 Ways Being Truthful With Customers Helps Your Bottom Line

Truthful With Customers

You know how important integrity is to your personal life, but it’s also essential in your small business as well. While closing the sale should be your goal, doing it honestly will help you make more money. Here are three ways it helps your business to be honest with customers.

Protecting Your Reputation

Every potential customer, whether they end up doing business with you or not, can either help or harm your reputation. Treat everyone kindly and always be honest, even if it means the person will walk out your door. Small businesses with a great reputation are more valuable than gold when it comes to referrals and repeat business.

Managing Their Expectations

While it may be tempting to promise a customer the world to make the sale, it can breed dissatisfaction when you can’t follow through on all you said you would do. Instead, manage customers’ expectations and always be forthcoming about delays or issues as they occur. This way, customers will be more likely to pay you in full and on time since they know they’ve been dealt with honestly.

Preventing Lawsuits

You can be held liable for actionable misrepresentation if you are untruthful during contract negotiations with a potential client, even if unintentionally. Even admitting you don’t know something is better than an educated guess, and it could save you on legal fees in the future.

Honesty is always the best policy, but now you know it can also benefit your bottom line.

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Force-Placed Insurance

What You Need To Know About Having (and Removing) Force-Placed Insurance Coverage

Force-Placed Insurance

You may have recently received a loan or a loan extension that came with some insurance strings attached. Sometimes, banks may require you to get force placed insurance to reduce the lender’s risk. While you might have already have this insurance type in place, you might still have questions about exactly what it entails and how you’ll eventually be able to get it removed.

Once Placed, There Could Be Multiple Reasons To Get Your Coverage Taken Off

Although your lender benefits from your having force placed insurance, it could, in some scenarios, turn into a financial difficulty for you. In certain cases, you might be incentivized to remove the insurance. Some of these instances might be:

  • Finding a different lender or a more beneficial policy
  • No longer being able to afford the cost of the insurance

It’s Considered a Necessary Addition To Hedge Certain Loans

However, you may also find it useful to understand why you had to get this insurance to start with. Generally, lenders will require a force-placed policy if the insurance you bring to the table does not provide enough coverage. In this way, it offers them extra protection should you happen to default.

While it might not have been entirely up to you to get force placed insurance, you can at least understand the details of how it works and how you could potentially get it removed. With this fresh perspective, you can balance your needs and your lender’s requirements.

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Restaurant Insurance

Why You Should Consider Purchasing Restaurant Insurance

Restaurant Insurance

Being the owner of any business comes with a certain amount of risk. Owning a restaurant is certainly no exception. It is vital that you reduce this risk as much as possible whenever you can. A great way to do this is by purchasing a restaurant insurance program.

Why Is Restaurant Insurance So Important?

Restaurant insurance can go a long way towards protecting the business you’ve worked so hard to build. No matter how hard you try to keep everything running smoothly, things do happen. Things like accidents, fires, and vandalism are a constant possibility and you don’t want to have to cover damages out of pocket.

What Kinds of Coverage Do You Need For Your Restaurant?

Generally, there is no one plan that will cover everything you need insured. There are a few different types of coverage available that should protect you across the board. First, you need general liability insurance which protects against property damage and injuries that occur to the general public. You also need workers’ compensation to protect your employees in case they are injured or killed while on the job. Other types of coverage to look into are employment practices liability insurance and liquor liability coverage.

Owning a restaurant is not easy. Having the right insurance plan can make a huge difference.

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Marine Spill

Vessel Responsibilities in a Marine Spill

Marine Spill

The vastness of the ocean can give the impression that it is a system that can handle whatever humans do to it. It is, however, an environment that is sensitive to the activities of modern industry. Pollution from marine spills is one of the most harmful threats facing the ocean today. Knowing the proper steps to take in the event of a spill can reduce damages, save crew lives and lower the company liabilities.

Emergency Plan Procedures

Every vessel is required to have either a Shipboard Oil Pollution Emergency Plan or a Shipboard Marine Pollution Emergency Plan if they weigh 400 gross tons or more. These plans provide guidelines for how to handle spills. Ensure that all crew members are trained in what to do in the event the plans need to be activated. A rapid marine spill response is critical to protecting your company and crew as well as the ocean ecosystem.

Reporting Procedures

Vessels carrying oil or hazardous materials are expected to contact the proper authorities, including local, state and federal agencies when a spill occurs that meets established rules for reporting. The National Response Center is the quickest point of contact for the federal government. The Environmental Protection Agency sets the guidelines for when oil spills need to be reported, while the Superfund Reportable Quantities establishes the requirements for when to report hazardous substance spills.

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Physical Hazards

3 Physical Hazards Professional Cleaners Face Every Day

Professional Cleaners

Professional cleaning service workers are exposed to chemical hazards on a daily basis. From inhaling toxic fumes to experiencing chemical burns, these dangers create an inherently risky environment for cleaners. They also, however, often overshadow the job’s equally-dangerous physical hazards.

1. Repetitive Motion

One of the most common cleaning liabilities is the risk of injury due to repetitive motion. Cleaners who spend hours a day sweeping, vacuuming, or mopping are more susceptible to obtaining an injury from overworking particular muscles or joints.

2. Bending and Lifting

Similar to the risk of injury due to repetitive movements, frequent bending and lifting places unnecessary strain on the body when done incorrectly. Moving sturdy furniture or heavy objects out of your way, for example, ensures a thorough clean, but it also increases your risk of sustaining a back injury. Though learning proper movement techniques can help prevent injury, a job as physically intensive as cleaning will never eradicate this problem entirely.

3. Noise Pollution

Though rarely acknowledged, noisy equipment poses a physical health risk to its operators. Even when a sound is not particularly sharp or loud, the sustained drone can harm your sense of hearing over time. This also means important auditory signals, such as fire alarms and security alerts, may go unnoticed by cleaning crews.

The spectrum of cleaning liabilities is vast and varied, but cleaning service insurance can alleviate some of the common fears — such as that of serious physical injury — that plague cleaning companies and their employees.