Whether you are running a multinational corporation or a small business operating from a spare bedroom at home, insuring certain aspects of your business is essential. For a number of years an increasing amount of people have been choosing to work from home. With cheaper IT costs, broadband and a greater accessibility over the internet, running a business from home is now an affordable, realistic option. But before you start thinking of converting that shed in the bottom of your garden to a new office, you should seek some professional advice to make sure you cover your business requirements.

Before you start a new venture you need to address the business insurance cover that may be required. These include:

Professional Indemnity

Professional indemnity insurance indemnifies professionals against third parties claims of negligent acts committed in the course of their professional duties. In many businesses such as accountancy or IT consultancy it is a legal requirement to have PI insurance. There are three main areas of PI insurance cover, firstly against a negligent act, error or omission. Secondly cover against a breach of duty and thirdly cover against civil liability, which include breaches of contract, libel or slander.

Employers Liability

Employer's liability protects a business from any claims made by the employees, for instance claims for accidents in the workplace or sickness caused by the working environment. There are many different types of claims employees can make on their employers, some of the more common include slips, trips or falls, stress and anxiety or an unsafe workplace, for example falling objects. Even if you work alone and you employ someone on a temporary basis, you will be liable for any injuries that they receive.

Public Liability

Public liability insurance protects against claims of a third party due to damage or injury as a result of your businesses activities. The owner or occupier of a business premises is required to provide a level of care for the general public, there are three main degrees of care. Firstly people who by some form are invited onto your premises they are called ‘invitees'. If this ‘invitee' spends money on a service, your duty of care and your chance of being liable increases, for example if you run a karting centre and one of your customers is hurt due to faulty machinery, you are liable for their injury. Secondly if people enter the premises with the permission of the occupier (called ‘licensees') but without any economic advantage to the occupier, then the duty of care is less than in the case of ‘invitees', for example a travelling salesman. Thirdly if there are ‘trespassers' who enter the business premises without the permission of the occupier, there is still a degree of care owed but it is slight compared to both ‘invitees' and ‘licensees'. A good example of this is a child who wanders onto a business premises and injures themselves, without necessarily knowing the dangers associated with the building.

There are many other types of insurance that small businesses might look into getting, including,

Equipment Insurance

Equipment insurance covers the damage or loss of equipment within a business, subject to the terms of agreement. For example if a new PC is damaged or dropped and wasn't covered in the warranty, a good insurance policy would cover the purchase of new equipment.

Buildings and Contents Cover

Buildings and contents cover insurance protects a business's property from damage, it also covers the fixtures/fittings within the property. Also if you are storing your stock at home, then contents cover will be essential. You could be left heavily indebted if your products or tools are stolen and you risk losing business and income if new tools cannot be purchased.

Legal Expenses insurance

Legal expenses insurance helps protect a business if legal action is taken against the company, for example legal fees and court costs.

Many self employed workers in small businesses rarely consider the implications of being sick or having an accident, leaving them unable to work for long periods of time. Sickness and accident policies cover these eventualities, as well as some longer term policies such as income replacement insurance. It is generally a good idea when shopping around for the best insurance quotes to compare like for like cover, it is a well used tactic to lower cost by lowering cover. So make sure you understand every aspect of what is included under the proposed insurance deal, it will greatly benefit you when you need to make a claim.

It is important to seek specialist advice when looking into insurance and it is important that you request quotes for your specific needs.