Insurance
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by MARY LYNNE
BLAESSER, CIC
Past Insurance Columns
It's insurance renewal time – but don’t send that check! Not until you
review your coverage. In the hectic pace of commerce today, it is easy for the
owner of a small business to forget that they must alert their insurance carrier
to any alterations in their operation. Insurance renewal time offers the perfect
opportunity to review one’s circumstances, reevaluate the situation, and report
any important changes that may have occurred in the past year. An oversight
could be quite costly in the event of a claim. For example, an electrologist who
changes her business location and neglects to inform her insurance carrier of
the move will have no fire or theft coverage in place at the new address.
What circumstances should be regularly reviewed? A few suggestions follow as a
guideline.
General/Premises
Liability
Commonly called Trip and Fall liability, you can do a great deal to prevent
claims in this area. Take a look around your establishment for potential
trip-and-fall hazards. Look for curling carpet edges, steps that are not clearly
marked, and shelves with sharp edges. Watch out for slippery tile flooring.
Do you have adequate limits of premises liability in place? Experience is
showing that a large number of claims reported are trip-and-fall related. Also,
most leases require that you maintain certain limits of premises liability.
Policies often require that the lessor be named as additional insured.
Professional Liability
Have services been added? For example, many electrolysis practitioners now
offer ancillary services and products, but professional liability (malpractice)
insurance doesn’t cover some procedures. If they are covered, you have to know
what the limitations are, and whether there is an additional charge for the
coverage.
Have other practitioners been added to your staff? What services are they
performing? Not all policies automatically cover new hires. You must check this
carefully. Often a new employee will be covered automatically – but no such
coverage is provided for a new independent contractor or booth/cubicle renter.
Many policies charge by the number of practitioners and the procedures
performed, this number must be kept current.
The recent trend towards expanding the services of salons, clinics, and spas has
made this review even more important. Many insurance policies that provide
coverage for hair styling and manicure/pedicure, do not (or cannot) provide
coverage for services, such as electrolysis, massage and aesthetics.
If you are not sure that your insurance carrier is providing the appropriate
coverage, you should ask to have something in writing, confirming that proper
coverage is in place.
Property Coverage
Has your location changed? Even a suite change must be reported to your
carrier, since property coverage is based on your specific location.
Have you renovated or remodeled? Perhaps you have outfitted a room to provide a
new service or simply redecorated. All these costs should be included in your
property value. Have you updated, upgraded, or added any new work-related
equipment?
How about your office furnishings and equipment; have you upgraded or added
computer hardware lately? Most business package policies have a specific limit
for computer equipment. Make sure your limit is enough to cover everything. Also
think about any upgraded or new telephone systems.
Are you adding a retail line of after treatment or home care products to your
electrolysis business? Make sure you include this type of inventory when
determining your business contents value.
If the business property value on your policy is not adjusted to include these
items, you may find yourself without enough money to replace your contents in
the event of a loss. By the same token, if you have down-sized your business,
you should notify your carrier so you are not paying for more insurance than you
need.
Past Insurance Columns
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