As a beauty salon owner, not only are you responsible for making your clients look and feel amazing, you also have the responsibility of maintaining their safety and security while visiting your salon. Just like any business, running a salon comes with its own risks, even yours. Read on to find out why it pays to insure your salon business in Australia and what kind of insurances you need to consider.
Advantages of having salon insurance
One of the biggest advantages of insuring your business is having peace of mind knowing that your salon is protected if something were to go wrong. Not having your business adequately insured could be the difference between staying in business or having to close your doors if an accident or claim occurred. Some of the other key advantages of having comprehensive insurance cover include:
- Protection against lawsuits: insurance policies like Public Liability and Professional Indemnity insurance can cover the associated legal costs if a claim were to occur.
- Prevents your business from going bankrupt: if an insurable event was to occur, having the appropriate insurance coverages can help keep your business afloat, even in the face of disaster
- Safeguards your employees – your insurance policy also covers the business activities (related to your business conducted by your employees)
The different types of salon insurances to consider
Public Liability Insurance
An essential form of cover for any beauty salon, Public Liability insurance protects your business if it is held liable for injury to someone else or damage to their property while performing your usual business activities. It will pay for your legal defence and settlement if awarded, giving your business a financial safeguard.
Product Liability cover is part of your Public Liability insurance and protects your business if a claim is made by a third party for personal injury or property damage caused by the product/s your business has provided.
Professional Indemnity
As an owner of a beauty salon, you’re a professional when it comes to all things brows and blushes, and that’s why clients seek your expert knowledge and advice when it comes to choosing the right products and treatments. But like all things in life, unexpected challenges can pop up – no matter how much care you may take, like being accused (rightly or wrongly) of not meeting the expectations of your client.
Professional Indemnity insurance is designed to protect beauty salon professionals if something does go wrong. It covers your legal defence costs and compensation you may have to pay to your client if you are found negligent. As a bonus, Professional Indemnity cover can provide PR costs to help safeguard your salon’s solid reputation.
Business Insurance
Business Insurance provides a range of different coverages to protect your business assets. Here are some of the key types of cover to help protect your salon business.
Contents & Stock Cover: provides protection for your tools of trade, stock and other equipment within your salon against loss or damage from unforeseeable insurable events. Contents like your salon chairs, make-up supplies and hair straighteners quickly add up, could you afford to replace them all and keep your business running in the event of a disaster?
Portable Equipment cover: if you offer mobile beauty services away from your salon, Portable Equipment cover provides protection for your mobile property including items like your laptop and tools of trade from being damaged or stolen.
Building Insurance: when you are the owner of the building your salon operates from, it is important to make sure it is insured. Building insurance provides cover for the cost to repair or rebuild the building if it is damaged or destroyed by an insurable event like a fire or other perils.
Business Interruption Cover: if your salon was to suffer from an insurable event, causing major disruption to the running of your salon, how would your business be able to continue trading? Business Interruption cover can cover the loss of income and some of the increased costs of running your salon.
*It is important to note that Business Interruption cover is available an additional cover option when you take out a Business Insurance policy.
Reduce the risk
While you might have all the right policies and procedures in place, no matter how prepared you are, accidents still happen! By taking a few precautionary steps you can help maintain a safe salon environment for yourself, your staff and clientele, starting with:
- Having solid security measures in place help to minimise unauthorised entry into your salon. Ensure your salon’s interior and exterior lights are adequate and check that any security systems that you have in place are all working.
- Communicate your Occupational Health and Safety procedures to your staff, and make sure they prevent potential risks like wet floors and keep the salon free of trip hazards
- Ensure that all your staff are properly trained and qualified when it comes to the services and tasks that they perform. It’s important that they only use the equipment and products the way they are intended and to follow the manufacturer’s
Insuring your salon business doesn’t need to be difficult or ugly. All it takes is a simple phone call or a few clicks of a button to receive multiple quotes delivered straight to your inbox from Australia’s top insurers. Let us shave a few dollars off your premium with a competitive quote here
