An important part of being a business owner is ensuring your employees, customers, and business have the protection they deserve in case the worst happens on the job. That’s why you need the right insurance policy for your industry if you want to stay in business long term. In particular, if your company specializes in installing fire sprinklers to safeguard businesses and homes from fire damage, you need fire sprinkler contractor insurance. If you’re not sure what kind of coverage your policy should include, take a look at the most common options to consider.
General Liability
The most basic coverage on just about any policy is general liability. This includes three types of coverage: products liability, premises liability, and completed operations. So, what do these terms mean exactly? To start, products liability is coverage that will pay for damages caused by faulty products. So if the fire sprinklers your employees installed for a client are defective—causing them to spray water everywhere despite there not being a fire—products liability will pay to fix the damage to the customer’s home or business.
Just as general liability will pay for damage caused by faulty products, it will do the same for damage caused by faulty services. This is called completed operations coverage. Basically, if the fire sprinkler installation was completed wrong, insurance will pay for the damage to the customer’s house or business.
The general liability coverage on your fire sprinkler contractor insurance policy also includes
premises liability. This provides coverage when a customer is injured on your property. For instance, if you have a loose step at the entrance of the office and a customer falls, premises liability coverage will pay for their medical care, rehabilitation costs, and missed wages as they stay home to heal. Even if you rarely get visitors in your office, it’s important to have this coverage just in case. Considering that just one accident at your office could cost thousands of dollars, fire sprinkler contractor insurance can save you money in the long run.
Property Coverage
Even though most of your work takes place outside of your office, you still need to protect that area from unexpected accidents. After all, you likely use the office to store files, computers, fire sprinklers, and the tools and supplies for your employees to use for the job. You likely also have office furniture there, as well as parking for company and employee vehicles on the premises. Essentially, your business property is worth a lot to you.
That’s why you need property coverage as part of your fire sprinkler contractor insurance policy. With this kind of protection, your office and anything in it will be covered in the case of vandalism, fire, harsh weather, or theft. So if you couldn’t afford to immediately replace or repair your office building or the items inside it, you need property coverage for peace of mind.
Commercial Auto Insurance
To do this job, your employees are regularly driving to customers’ homes and businesses. If they’re ever in a car accident on the way to or from a job, they deserve to know they’ll be protected by your fire sprinkler contractor insurance. This is because their personal car insurance likely won’t pay for car repairs and medical expenses when they’re driving for work, but commercial auto coverage will.
So whether you let employees drive their personal vehicle or use a company truck from your fleet, make sure they all have auto coverage on your fire sprinkler contractor insurance policy. Otherwise, they could be stuck paying for expenses out of pocket, or they could expect you to do so.
Workers’ Comp
Another way to protect employees on the job is to include workers’ compensation coverage with your fire sprinkler contractor insurance. This will pay their medical bills if they get hurt at work, such as if they fall while installing fire sprinklers—which is a very real possibility with this job.
Not only will workers’ comp pay for their emergency care, but it will also pay for physical therapy, lost wages, and any other expenses resulting from the accident. That’s why this coverage is such an important part of fire sprinkler contractor insurance.
Tools and Equipment Coverage
Finally, your fire sprinkler contractor insurance policy should include coverage for tools and equipment. Whether you rent or own the tools of the trade, you might have trouble replacing them immediately after they’re lost, damaged, or stolen. If you couldn’t afford to spend thousands of dollars replacing necessary tools, make sure you have this coverage as part of fire sprinkler contractor insurance.
These types of coverage come highly recommended. But you may be advised to add even more options, so contact your local insurance company to find out more on what you need.
