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Why does my cleaning business need general liability insurance?

09-05-2017

general liability insurance for cleaners and janitors

Slips, trips, spills, and drips. Words that strike fear into the hearts of cleaning business owners. General liability insurance for cleaners can help. How?

Imagine these scenarios:

A client slips on a freshly mopped marble floor. Falling hard, they break their arm.

An employee at the offices you clean trips over the cord of your vacuum while carrying a piping hot coffee. The result is a huge mess and a pretty nasty scald.

While cleaning an oven, you spill the chemical all over the wooden work surface. It causes serious, irreparable damage to the finish. 

It was only a tiny drip, but there’s no way of getting that bleach spot out of your client’s expensive bathrobe.

General liability insurance – because accidents happen

If you work in the cleaning and janitorial industry, you’ll know that accidents like this can happen in an instant. And result in damage to property, and injury to people. 

In all the above examples, your business is likely to be liable. And you could find yourself facing a very expensive claim. Could your business afford to take the financial hit?

On top of the 2.16m janitors and commercial cleaners in the US (2016) there are a further 924,756 maids and housekeepers.

That’s a lot of people.  A lot of people who might make a costly mistake. But with salaries averaging around $24,756 a year, you need insurance in place to protect income. Especially if you’re the sole employee.  

Claims can vary. They can be as small as replacing a broken plate, to huge negligence claims. Like when someone’s been seriously injured because of your negligence. Or the negligence of an employee.

And it’s not just slips, trips, spills and drips that can result in a claim, either. Breakages and damage caused by faulty equipment they can also result in a suit. 

You can’t predict an accident. But you can protect your business from the fall-out. With general liability insurance for cleaners.

 

How does general liability insurance protect my cleaning business?

Legal fees, plus compensation, if your business is found at fault, can cost a lot. Cleaning and janitorial general liability insurance can pay for your legal defense and damages, too.

Without it, you’d have to find the cash to pay for all this yourself. And that could wipe you out completely. 

But having general liability insurance for cleaners also makes you appear more professional to clients. In fact, your customers may well request you have it, and the certificate to prove it. It’s peace of mind, in case you (or they) slip up. 

 

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