SMALL BUSINESS INSURANCE OHIO

Many small business owners and self-employed workers in Ohio carry general liability insurance, also called commercial general liability or business liability by insurance companies.

General liability can provide protection if someone who doesn’t work for you says your business is responsible for causing bodily injury or destroying property. Coverage can help pay medical fees and to repair damaged items.

For example, an apartment complex owner accuses a Columbus dog walker of allowing a canine to destroy a flower bed, causing several hundred dollars worth of damage. General liability coverage could help the dog walker pay for the property damage.

Cleaning businesses and contractors can add optional tools and equipment insurance to their general liability policy. This coverage can help replace important business gear that is lost, stolen or damaged.

Ohio requires businesses with one or more employees to carry workers’ compensation insurance.

Unlike most states, Ohio operates an official state workers’ compensation fund that assists employees who are injured on the job. Two-thirds of businesses in the state pay into this fund to help injured employees cover medical bills and recoup lost wages.²

If your company doesn’t contribute to Ohio’s workers’ comp fund, you’ll need to purchase your own coverage as part of your business insurance package.

Workers’ comp insurance is designed to help in scenarios like the following:

An employee of a small Cleveland-based construction company slips at an icy job site and has a bad fall. They need to be hospitalized and miss three months of work for recovery.

Workers’ compensation coverage could help both the injured employee and the business by assisting with the medical bills and lost wages.

If an employee has an accident while driving for business, personal auto insurance won’t help pay for damages. That’s why Ohio companies that own vehicles or involve driving need commercial auto insurance.

It can help in a situation such as:

A carpenter in Toledo has a wreck in a company-owned van and injures another driver. Commercial auto insurance could help the carpenter pay for the other driver’s medical bills and repair damage to both vehicles.

Businesses that rent cars or ask employees to drive their own vehicles may want to upgrade their commercial auto policy with optional hired and non-owned auto coverage. This type of insurance can help pay for accident damages to vehicles that you don’t own.

Ohio commercial property insurance can protect your business property, including inventory and your physical premises. It can help pay to repair or replace damaged items after a covered event, such as a water, fire or wind incident.

For example, a grease fire at an Akron diner-style restaurant damages the cooking station. Commercial property coverage could help pay to repair the grill and replace kitchen gear that was destroyed.

It’s important to read your policy documents carefully to make sure there aren’t exclusions for your business. Some locations might not cover flood or hurricane damage.

Professional liability insurance, sometimes known as E&O or errors & omissions coverage, is a type of business insurance. It can help pay for damages if someone claims they incurred financial losses because you made a professional mistake, missed a deadline or failed to complete work.

For example, a Cincinnati homeowner says that a real estate agent failed to disclose cracks in the foundation of her newly purchased house, which require expensive repairs. Professional liability insurance could help the real estate agent pay the cost to fix the cracks.