Basic Business Liability Insurance

Business Insurance provides you with protection if your business  assets or premises are damaged, stolen or if you sustain financial loss due to  an insured interruption to your business.  

Business insurance usually falls into three categories: 

a) Material damage loss for your physical assets
b) Financial loss due to business interruption
c)Personal injury/property damage claims against you

When it comes to small business insurance, there are multiple coverage options to select from. Each type of cover is designed to protect against different risks that your business may be exposed to. Some of small business Insurance coverage options include:

Building Insurance* which  covers you for loss and damage to buildings you own, as a result of an insured event (such as fire, storm, wind). 

General Property Insurance* which covers against theft and accidental damage of equipment, such as tools, laptops and mobile phones, while you are away from your office. 

Office Contents Insurance* which covers you against burglary, theft and accidental damage of office equipment such as chairs, desks and computers. 

Public Liability Insurance* which covers you if a third-party claim that your negligent business activities caused them injury or property damage. This includes defence costs cover. 

Glass Insurance* which covers you for damage to internal and external glass, mirrors, porcelain and signage at your business premises. 

Tax Audit Insurance* which covers fees of any accountants engaged in connection with an audit by the Australian Taxation Office. 

Business Interruption* which covers you  for the loss of income and increased costs of operating your business caused by a specified insured event (such as property damage or fire). 

Business Insurance is a packaged solution designed to protect your business from property, business and liability risks. There are different coverage options available under a Business Insurance pack, sometimes referred to as a Biz Pack. 

The great thing about small business insurance is that you can select the type of coverage that is tailored to the needs of your  business. Different businesses require their own unique forms of cover to protect them from the unique risks of their industry.  For example, the types of risks a restaurant owner faces will be different to  a dog groomer. 

A common question SME operators ask is, “How much does Business Insurance cost?”. Unfortunately, there’s no  one-price fits all answer. Some of the factors that can influence the cost of a Business Insurance policy include: 

• the type of cover and cover options taken 
• the nature of your business 
• the value of the property insured 
• where your business is located 
• the number of employees you have 
• your  annual turn over 
• claims history 

Have a chat to our BizCover sales team about the different kinds of Business Insurance we have available from some of Australia’s leading insurers to get an accurate cost of your Business Insurance policy.  

Just because you’re working from home doesn’t mean things can’t go wrong. Every occupation and workplace comes with its own level of risk, and insurance could help you manage the financial fallout if things don’t go to plan.

These are a few of the home-based businesses we cover:

• Administrative support services
• Answering & reception services
• Beautician
• Consultants
• Dog walking
• Dog grooming
• Graphic designer
• Hairdresser
• Online shops
• Photographer
• Writers
• Web developer

There are many types of insurance that home-based businesses consider, such as:

Public Liability*

Do you have clients visit your home-based office? Do you visit them in their office or off-site locations? You may want protection in place should you accidentally cause injury or damage to their personal property.

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 brings a claim against you due to their being injured or sustaining property damage as a result of your negligent business activities.

Cyber Liability*

Working from home may make you a desirable target for cybercrime. The Australian Cyber Security Centre estimates that up to 200,000 Australian small office and home office routers may be vulnerable to compromise¹. If your systems were attacked, the impact could be destructive to your business.

Cyber Liability insurance covers losses from claims arising from data breaches, business interruption and remediation costs following an actual or threatened data breach.

Your coverage may include cover for expenses and legal costs relating to the following:

• Data breaches
• Theft or loss of client information
• Business interruption costs
• Forensic investigation
• Data recovery
• Extortion
• Fines and penalties
• Crisis management costs (to restore your business reputation after an attack or data breach)
• Legal costs from any ensuing civil action taken against you or your company

ASD’s ACSC Annual Cyber Threat Report, July 2021 to June 2022

Personal Accident & Illness*

Being self-employed, you may want to consider protection for your most important asset—you. This is where Personal Accident and Illness insurance comes into play, especially when you don’t have access to sick leave.

Personal Accident and Illness insurance can provide cover should you become permanently disabled or pass away as a result of an accident. Cover can also include a weekly benefit for loss of income if you are unable to work as a result of an unexpected injury or illness (even if it occurs outside of your employment).

Business Insurance Pack*

Looking for cover for your business contents, tools and equipment? What about protection to help you manage unplanned business interruptions, tax audits, or other risks associated with running your business?

You may want to consider a Business Insurance Pack, a customisable insurance package designed to help you cover the events above (and sometimes more) when an insured event occurs (such as fire, storm, theft or even accidental damage).

Options available through most Business Insurance Packs include (but are not limited to):

Contents*

Your home office may be full of business assets required to perform your job, like equipment, stock, and furniture. Even though these items are technically kept in your home, they may not be covered by your personal home & contents policy.

Contents insurance provides cover for loss of or damage to items such as business equipment, stock, plant and machinery, records and furniture belonging to you at the insured location.

Portable Equipment*

Running a home-based business doesn’t mean you’re always at home. If you are on the road and need items like your laptop, tools and equipment to perform your profession, you might consider protecting them with Portable Equipment cover.

Portal Equipment insurance (also known as General Property insurance) covers you for loss and damage to items of portable equipment associated with your business. These can include tools of trade and items of stock.

Business Interruption*

Anything can happen when you’re running a small business. If unplanned events force a temporary shutdown, Business Interruption cover could help you keep things going.

Business interruption provides cover for the loss of income and increased costs of operating your business caused by a specified insured event (such as property damage or fire). It’s designed to assist your business to recover from an insured event by paying ongoing expenses (such as wages or rent).

Tax Audit*

A call from the ATO is enough to frighten many home-based business owners, and a tax audit is even scarier! You might want to consider cover to help you manage the costs of a business audit.

Tax Audit Insurance covers a business for specified costs in the event that it is selected by the Australian Tax Office for auditing. The policy offers coverage for the costs of accountants and other nominated professional fees incurred in the course of an audit.

Public Liability and Professional Indemnity insurance are two fundamental forms of cover that both protect against very different risks. The main difference is the type of duty of care that each cover seeks to provide protection for. 

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. 

It also provides protection for legal and defence costs associated with a covered claim. 

Professional Indemnity (PI) insurance* provides protection for businesses that provide specialist services or professional advice.  It is designed to respond to claims against your business for losses as a result of actual or alleged negligent acts or omissions in the provision of your professional service or advice. PI Insurance will also assist with the legal costs associated with responding to or managing claims which are covered by the policy.  

Product Liability insurance* commonly forms part of a Public Liability insurance policy, providing protection for your business against claims by third parties relating to property damage or personal injury caused by your products.  

The term ‘Product’ is typically defined as anything that has been manufactured, constructed, erected, assembled, installed, grown, extracted, produced, processed, treated, altered, modified, repaired, serviced, bottled, labelled, handled, sold, supplied, re-supplied, distributed, imported or exported by you, or on your behalf.  

Product Liability insurance is designed to support you when your products cause a third party to sustain personal injury or property damage.  Product Liability insurance is intended to cover  compensation payable to a third party and your defence costs (these are the reasonable costs incurred while investigating and defending a covered claim including legal fees, experts fees and court costs).  

Product Liability insurance is there to help you from the moment an allegation of negligence relating to your product is made.   

Always check the limit of cover offered by your policy and any exclusions or geographical limitations.