Do You Need Public Liability Insurance if You're Self Employed?

Wondering if you're one of the self-employed people who needs public liability insurance? Public liability can be very important for some self-employed people (you can read why here), especially those in certain occupations or who work in certain locations. Let's run through some critical questions together to see if you really need it, or not.

Do you have in-person exposure to clients or other people?

If you/your business have physical interactions with people who don't work for you, you need public liability insurance to protect against lawsuits. Why? Any contact is an opportunity for a personal injury situation. Someone could simply trip and fall, blaming your business; or slip on a wet floor; or any one of a myriad of other reasons.

Public liability (PL) insurance protects against personal injury claims made by third parties. Third parties are essentially anyone not part of your business, such as clients, customers, vendors, landlords, passersby, other members of the public and even other businesses. PL insurance can cover legal defence costs as well as compensation payments.

Here are some situations that could result in a lawsuit to illustrate how important public liability insurance can be for a self-employed person:

Examples

Do you work in or with other people's property?

Public liability insurance also protects against accidental damage to property belonging to third parties. So if your business involves working with or just spending time in other people's properties, you need PL cover.

Examples

If you've answered 'yes' to either of these questions, meaning you or your business (including employees) have any in-person exposure to other people and/or their property—you probably need public liability insurance. Let's now look at some occupations that commonly need PL cover.

Types of self-employed occupations that need public liability insurance

Some occupations are much more prone to third party personal injury or accidental damage lawsuits. In particular, occupations that put you in direct contact with people who aren't your employees, or their property, need PL cover—in particular ones that are more hazardous.

Here is a list of common occupations that do generally need public liability insurance. However, this list is not complete so if your occupation is not listed here it doesn't necessarily mean you don't need PL insurance. This list is meant to give you an idea of who typically needs this type of cover.

There are certainly other professions that might need the protection of a public liability insurance policy, even if it doesn't seem obvious at first glance. For example, a self-employed, freelance web designer might not strike you as the type to need public liability cover, and they probably don't need it if they only work from home and meet clients virtually. But if they meet clients in person or even have exposure to members of the public while working then it's a good idea.

Imagine a scenario a web designer is working in a coffee shop and their laptop bag falls into the walkway, tripping a customer carrying hot coffee, causing them to fall and burn on themselves. Who is to blame? They might say your business and slap you with a legal action.