If you run a small contracting company, or have outsourced employees, or even part time employees, you are at an incredible risk of being sued, and are going to require some public liability insurance. There are factors that are completely out of your hands that are going to put your business in jeoprody on a daily basis. Even if you aren’t aware of them, they are still going to happen. If you run a larger operation, you should already have a good insurance policy in place. Make sure that you have a reserve fund available for times when you have to wait for the public liability insurance provider to start working the claim, don’t get caught off guard.
If you are a general contractor, and are running a successful construction company, you have got an incredible amount of risk involved, and I can assure you, you need personal liability insurance for contractors. There are just too many factors in play that could put you out of business tomorrow if you are caught unprepared. Construction employes are notorious for causing lawsuits, and you’re not on the jobsite every day, so you can’t be in complete control. It is a sad fact, but your foremen probably don’t care as much about your business as you do. This is where a good policy will come into effect.
Let’s just figure up an example here. You have your foremen running around like he has his head cut off, reading blueprints, keeping up with laborers, checking over finished projects, talking to subcontractors, answering your phone calls, he is completely absorbed in your business, good for him. The problem here lies in the fact that he can’t keep up with every employee at the same time. While he is on one side of the house, you have a couple of stoners on the other side, standing up on a scaffold. Stoner A proceeds to start whistling at the cutie walking down the street, and knocks Stoner B off the scaffold. Herein lies the lawsuit. Stoner B takes some quick fix drug test passing chemicals, and you are stuck with an incredible lawsuit.
Just another example of why you need a good public liability insurance policy. One of your employees drops a hammer from the second story of a house, or a nail from a gun busts through the wood, and goes shooting across the house. Yes, someone else caused this to happen, but in the end, you are responsible for everything. Workman’s compensation only covers it if they can pass a drug test. If they can’t pass a drug test, and know enough to get a lawyer, they can still win the case, and your public liability insurance policy would cover you.