Types of Insurance

You may have to get different types of insurance depending on the industry you’re in. That’s because every business faces unique challenges and risks.

While there are many types of insurance that you can get, read about eight policies that many small businesses can get to help protect them from a variety of risks.

1. General Liability Insurance (GLI)

General liability insurance helps protect your business from claims that it caused:

• Bodily injury to someone else
• Property damage to another person’s belongings
• Personal injury, like libel or slander

2. Commercial Property Insurance

Commercial property insurance helps protect your owned or rented building and equipment that you use to run your business.

Be aware that this insurance doesn’t cover damage from earthquakes or floods. You’ll likely have to get a separate policy, like commercial flood insurance, to help protect your business from these kinds of claims.

3. Business Income Insurance

If you can’t run your business because of covered property damage, business income insurance can help replace your lost income. So, you can use this coverage to help pay for ongoing expenses, like rent, utility bills or payroll. This type of insurance is also known as business interruption insurance.

4. Professional Liability Insurance

Professional liability insurance helps cover lawsuits claiming that you made a mistake in the services you provided. This type of insurance is also known as errors and omissions (E&O) insurance.

5. Workers’ Compensation Insurance

Workers’ compensation insurance gives your employees benefits if they get hurt or sick from their job. These benefits can help:

• Pay for their medical bills
• Replace most of their lost wages if they miss work to recover
• Cover funeral costs if they lose their life due to a work-related injury or illness
• Pay for ongoing care, like physical therapy

Most states require businesses with employees to carry workers’ compensation insurance. You can face fines, penalties and criminal charges if you don’t comply with your state’s law.

6. Data Breach Insurance

Data breach insurance helps your business respond to a data breach if personally identifiable information gets lost or stolen. Some insurers may call this coverage cyber insurance.

Data breach insurance can help pay your costs to:

Notify impacted individuals

• Offer identity theft monitoring services
• Create a public relations campaign

7. Commercial Umbrella Insurance

Commercial umbrella insurance extends the coverage limits for some of your liability policies. So, if a claim exceeds the limits on your policy, your umbrella insurance can help cover the difference.