In Hawaiʻi’s marketplace, no two businesses are the same. Knowing this, it makes sense to customize your liability insurance to meet the exact needs of your company. Personalizing insurance means taking into account the risks that a business in a particular industry or location may face and developing a policy that protects against the associated perils.
If you have a business in Hawaiʻi, working with a local insurance agent will help you get custom business liability insurance, just the way you need it.
Why Customizing Liability Insurance Is Important
Although many insurance companies provide off-the-shelf liability insurance that provides policyholders with basic coverage, these policies may not address all of the potential liabilities specific to your industry.
Customizing liability insurance also works to meet compliance and contractual requirements either for your industry, or your clients. This can help you meet the requirements specific to certain clients without having to purchase unnecessary coverage across the board. Some coverages you need can even be bundled together for added savings.
How to Identify Your Specific Business Liability Risks
- Take a close look at your business’s specific liability risks to gain a clear understanding of how your operations, environment, and industry interact. An assessment looks at everything from workplace hazards to supply chain vulnerabilities, covering all bases to see what risks you may come up against.
- Reviewing your past claims history is also important. It helps to see where your business may have been vulnerable in the past, whether it’s issues with products or disputes over contracts. Seeing these patterns can help strengthen your policy and eliminate potential gaps in coverage.
- Also take time to communicate with your team. Talking to your partners, managers, legal advisors, and employees can give you insight from those on the ground who may discover potential risks firsthand. Their input can be valuable as they can often spot risks that may not be as obvious from the outside.
- Finally, remember to stay proactive. Although some risks may not yet be on your radar, they could present as a challenge in the future. Think about how new technologies, cybersecurity threats, and other developments could potentially expose your business to liabilities down the road.
Types of Liability Insurance Your Business Can Customize
The main goal of customizing liability insurance is to get the coverage your business needs to stay financially protected and meet legal and contractual requirements. Some types of liability insurance that your business can customize include:
1. Liability Insurance
Business liability insurance prevents businesses from suffering significant financial losses when facing third-party claims or formal lawsuits. The three most common types of liability insurance include general liability, product liability, and professional liability. The cost of coverage is based on the policies you need, as well as aspects such as location and amount of risk.
2. Commercial Auto Insurance
You and the employees who use your vehicles as part of your business operations must be covered by commercial auto insurance. This type of insurance can be customized to cover different types of vehicles and their specific uses. It also protects against liabilities that result from collisions or accidents when operating work vehicles.
3. Property Insurance
Businesses rely on property insurance to remain financially protected from the cost of repairs, replacements, and other losses that often accompany storms, burst pipes, explosions, fire, theft, vandalism, and other unexpected events.
You can customize your property insurance to include your buildings, inventory, and equipment you use in your operations. Although floods and earthquakes are not typically covered under commercial property insurance, they can be added to a policy or purchased separately.
4. Cyber Liability Insurance
Cyber liability coverage protects businesses from financial losses and liabilities that can arise from cyber threats such as breaches involving computer systems.
Coverage takes the financial stress out of legal fees and other expenses, such as notifying customers about a data breach, repairing damaged equipment, recovering compromised data, and restoring the personal identity of affected customers. Your coverage can be customized based on the type of data stored and your individual business risks.
5. Workers’ Compensation Insurance
Employees who become ill or injured on the job are generally protected by worker’s compensation insurance, which covers the costs of related medical care and/or cash benefits.
Employers, not employees, bear the sole responsibility for paying workers’ compensation insurance premiums. Workers’ compensation insurance can be personalized based on the number of covered employees and the specific risks associated with the job.
6. Business Interruption Insurance
Business interruption insurance allows businesses to continue to pay their fixed expenses if they are temporarily unable to operate due to a covered loss. This type of policy can be customized based on the business’s anticipated risks.
For example, a business that operates on the island of Oahu might need business interruption insurance due to the threat of natural disasters, such as volcanic eruptions or hurricanes, which may lead to a prolonged closure.
Atlas Can Help You Customize Your Liability Insurance
Insurance agents are an important part of customizing liability insurance coverage for growing businesses. Assessing specific risks, recommending suitable coverage options, and confirming that policies meet industry standards and legal requirements can keep businesses protected from all types of liabilities.
At Atlas Insurance Agency, we’ve helped countless businesses in Hawaiʻi build customized insurance packages to meet their specific needs and budget. Call our office at (808) 400-6634 to get started.