A general liability insurance policy pays for property damage or bodily injury to a third party that was caused by you. If you are installing carpet in someone’s home and one of their kids trips over the roll of carpet and breaks their arm, your general liability policy could cover the child’s medical costs. Likewise, if you are plastering a kitchen ceiling and you drop your trowel on the client’s new soapstone countertop, cracking it, your policy could pay to replace the counter top. Without this coverage, you’d be paying these costs out of your pocket.

As more laws are enacted for workplaces, employers face a higher risk of lawsuits. The likelihood of discrimination lawsuits is especially high. In order to minimize this risk, employers need to create a workplace that offers workers equal rights, opportunities, job access, working conditions, job security and opportunities for advancement. They must also strive to create a workplace that is in compliance with federal employment guidelines for mature and disabled workers. During the time period between 1992 and 2004, the number of individual discrimination charges jumped from 72,302 to 79,432 annually. These figures, which were collected by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, include all types of discrimination filings.

To ensure the survival of a company, business interruption insurance is a valuable tool. Although some companies may never use it, having this coverage can be the difference of recovering from a detrimental event or closing the doors forever. Business interruption coverage is just as important for any business as flood insurance is for an oceanfront business. Most people would never start a company without insuring their property and inventory from storms, vandals and perils.

Companies that design or sell tangible items should consider product liability insurance. Anything from foam slippers to boxed macaroni can be manufactured incorrectly enough to result in lawsuits. Some food products become contaminated and make people sick. Other items may be designed poorly and cause physical harm to customers or their personal property. Product liability insurance is an add-on coverage for a general liability policy.

A study by the U.S. Green Building Council estimated that environmentally-friendly, or “green” construction, would grow at a compound annual rate of 9.5 percent between 2014 and 2019. Traditional property insurance products do not adequately cover these innovative construction methods and materials. In recent years, the insurance industry has unveiled new coverages to help cover environmentally-friendly buildings and property.

There are four types of insurance that most small businesses purchase. The first is property insurance. This type of coverage provides compensation if business property is damaged, stolen or lost. In addition to covering the physical business structure, property insurance covers personal property. This includes inventory, office furnishings, raw materials, computers, machinery and other items that are part of business operations. Property insurance coverage doesn’t end with protecting physical assets. It also affords operating funds when business owners must take steps to get their business back on track following major loss. Property insurance may provide coverage for broken equipment in some cases. It may also provide coverage for water damage, debris removal following a fire and several other specific items.

A consultant recommends that a client purchase and implement software to automate certain manufacturing processes. An update to the software causes it to crash repeatedly, forcing the client to shut down its production lines for 10 days until a fix is available. The client sues the consultant for giving bad advice.

A new commercial building develops a roof leak following heavy rains. An investigation shows that the roof structure is insufficient for handling torrential rains common to the area. The owner

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