A commercial general liability policy aims at protecting your business from financial loss. It covers your liability for property damage or advertising and personal injury caused by your business operations, services, or employees. The insurance mostly covers non-professionals’ negligent acts. Before buying commercial general liability insurance,  it would be better to know about its coverage in more detail.

This insurance can help you in situations where your business is responsible for paying costs like legal and medical expenses and compensatory and punitive damages, like if a customer trips on the loose flooring and gets injured when visiting your business premise or an employee in your construction or commercial company accidentally leaves the water running, or if a lawsuit is filed against your business, alleging misleading information. The insurance policy covers your legal defense costs and will also pay all damages on your behalf. 

Purchasing CGL Insurance Policy

You can buy a commercial general liability insurance policy either as a part of a BOP (Business Owners Policy) or a CPP (Commercial Package Policy). In case these policies do not provide sufficient coverage, you can consider an excess commercial policy that will provide additional protection. You can consult an insurance expert to know which type and how much coverage will be right for your business. 

Bodily Injury And Property Damage Liability 

This type of coverage protects against losses from the legal liability of the insured person for bodily injury or property damage to others non-professional negligent acts or out of their business operations or premises. Physical injuries can also include mental injuries and emotional distress, even in the absence of bodily harm. Although employment practices liability insurance, workers’ compensation, and pollution liability are excluded, they can be purchased as separate policies. But remember that this coverage is very limited, so high-risk businesses should consider purchasing a different pollution liability policy. Other risks, such as liquor and professional liability, are also excluded. You can contact an insurance expert to help you determine endorsements that will be most suitable for your business. 

Personal And Advertising Injury

This kind of insurance protects against liability arising out of certain offenses like slander, libel, false arrest, malicious prosecution, infringing on another’s copyright, wrongful eviction, use of another’s advertising idea, and entry or invasion of privacy. 

Medical Payments

The coverage for medical payments includes all the expenses for injuries sustained by a non-employee caused by an accident that occurs in the insured person’s premises or exposed to their business operations. This coverage can be initiated without legal action, thus quickly settling smaller medical claims without litigation. The medical payments liability is included in the commercial general liability insurance policy and can pay for all the necessary and reasonable medical, ambulance, surgical, professional nursing, and even funeral expenses for the person who is injured or killed in an accident that has taken place at the insured person’s premises or has arisen from their business operations. Unlike the bodily injury or property damage coverage, and personal and advertising liability, there is no legal or defense liability coverage under this since it is provided on a no-fault basis. 

Additional Coverages

Suppose you want to consider additional liability coverage not part of CGL insurance. In that case, you can talk to a professional about the type of coverage that might be needed depending on your business type. Some of the key kinds of additional insurance coverage include the following.

Officers And Directors Liability

This type protects the past, present and future directors and officers of nonprofit or for-profit companies from damages caused due to alleged or actual wrongful acts they may have committed during their position. It protects in the case of any actual or alleged error, omission, misstatement, misleading statement, or breach of duty. Moreover, some policies may allow you to extend the same coverage for employees.

Liquor Liability

This is a business coverage that protects against loss or damages caused as a result of a patron of your business becoming intoxicated and injuring himself or others. This coverage will likely be needed if your business manufactures, sells, facilitates, or serves the use or purchase of such products. This type of coverage can be sold as an add-on to a CGL or stand-alone policy.

Pollution Liability

This policy provides commercial, industrial, and agricultural property owners, developers, and managers a range of pollution liability protection for gradual, sudden or accidental, first or third-party environmental liabilities and also protects assets from unforeseen environmental exposures that can have a substantial effect on the earnings. This coverage may also protect against pollution hazards that could lead to bodily injury, pollution clean-up costs, and property damage.

Conclusion

Since the CGL policy has so many types of coverage that are essential for any business, it is crucial that you consider purchasing CGL insurance by contacting an expert.