Do you run a market stall or small business from home? No matter how big or small your business is, you STILL need to make sure you have the correct insurance in place.
We often hear of market organisers offering stall holders insurance as a part of their stall holders fee – whilst this may cover off the public liability aspects of a stall, it would be highly unlikely that it would offer any protection whatsoever in relation to product liability.
So what is the difference between Public & Product Liability?
Product Liability Insurance is an important cover that anyone who sells a product should definitely have in place. It’s not really a type of policy that you can by on it’s own – it comes with all good Public Liability policies.
Should someone decide to sue you because they feel your product caused them to suffer a loss or injury or even worse a death (even if it is proven that your products weren’t the cause or a contributing factor) then you will need to have the funds available to defend yourself.
The main difference between public liability and product liability is how they operate in a claim situation.
Public Liability responds should the actions / operations of your business cause someone to suffer a loss or injury – think slips, trips, falls type things or if your display table falls at a market and hurts someone.
The Product Liability section of a policy responds when someone suffers or alleges to have suffered a loss or injury as a result of your actual product – ie. A child choked on a button that was attached to an item or has an allergic or negative reaction as a result of your product make up.
You could have an annual turnover of $2000, $ 20,000 or $200,000 – but if you were to have even one claim made against you it could cost you plenty.