10 Best Insurance Options for Electricians
Like many other professionals, electricians and people who regularly work with electricity face many unique dangers on the job. For electricians, these damages can look like electrical burns, exposure to toxic substances, UV radiation, fires, and even lethal shocks.
With all of these dangers apparent, electricians need to have solid insurance options in place to help safeguard against potentially exorbitant claims, medical bills, or other payouts. That’s where electrician’s insurance can step in.
Let’s take a quick look at who needs electrician’s insurance, what this insurance type may not cover, and the top 10 policies that electrician’s insurance can provide.
Who Needs Electrician Insurance?
Both electricians and electrical contractors need to purchase electrician’s insurance policies, as well as any other individual who regularly works with electricity. These people face many unique job dangers including contact with live wires and active circuits, specialized equipment that may malfunction, and any number of other problems.
Make sure you have electrician’s coverage especially if you work with lighting, high or low voltage levels of electricity, fiber optics, or electrical control installations.
What Is Not Covered by Electrician’s Insurance?
While electrician’s insurance can provide payouts for a wide range of potential problems, liabilities, and damages, there are a few specific instances that the majority of these policies won’t cover. These typically include:
- Earthquakes
- Floods
- Infectious Diseases
- Intentional Fraudulent Acts
- Wrongful Termination
- Wars
- Government Seizures
You can purchase additional policy types to cover some of these exclusions, but they may cost extra.
Top 10 Insurance Options for Electricians
There are many excellent insurance options for electricians including general liability insurance. Equipment breakdown insurance, installation floaters, and more. Let’s take a minute to look over each one to better understand how it can protect you and your business.
General Liability Insurance
Perhaps the best, most all-inclusive insurance type for any business type–including electricians–is general liablity insurance. This policy provides a base layer of protection that can serve as the foundation for the rest of your insurance policies. It covers property damage, accidental bodily injuries, medical bills, settlements, and legal defenses.
Commercial Property Insurance
If your electrician business has a physical location or any valuable equipment, commercial property insurance is a must-have. This policy will offset costs relating to damage to your business’s location or equipment whether you own it outright or lease it.
Business Interruption Insurance
Life happens, and sometimes that may mean you will need to close your business temporarily. And whether you need to close it because of damage to the property, illness, theft, or any number of other scenarios, business interruption insurance can help by helping you recoup some lost earnings or helping you find a new location.
Worker’s Compensation Insurance
If you have employees, workers comp is a vital insurance type for your business–and not just because it’s legally required in most places. Workers’ comp can help offset costs if any of your covered employees are injured or become ill on the job. The policy will step in to cover medical bills, disability benefits if applicable, and a percentage of lost wages.
Commercial Auto Insurance
Many electricians rely on vans or other commercial vehicles to transport both their equipment from location to location and their employees to various job sites. And sometimes, these vehicles can break down, get into accidents, or be stolen.
If this happens, commercial auto insurance can step in to cover bodily injuries to individuals hurt in an accident caused by you or your employees, property damage caused accidentally, medical payments, collision damage, and some other potential damages.
Equipment Breakdown Insurance
Electricians can have some pretty expensive equipment for their work–equipment that can be incredibly costly to replace if it is damaged. Equipment breakdown insurance can help you here by covering not only the cost to repair or replace your equipment but also to cover any time and labor involved in the repair or replacement.
Note that this insurance will not apply to equipment that breaks down as a result of normal wear-and-tear activity.
Contractor’s Tools and Equipment Insurance
While this insurance type may sound similar to equipment breakdown insurance, it works to cover you in separate circumstances. Contractor’s tools and equipment insurance may not be able to cover your equipment if it simply breaks down, but if it’s lost, stolen, or damaged, this insurance policy can step in to offset costs.
As with equipment breakdown insurance, there are some limitations with this policy type, including restrictions on how old a piece of equipment must be before it loses all coverage.
Errors and Omissions Insurance
Some clients you work with may be wonderful, but there may occasionally be those individuals who are unhappy with your work. If you’re ever in a situation where a customer is dissatisfied with your labor and claims you did poor work on their property in court, errors and omissions insurance–also known as professional liability insurance–can help you cover costs associated with legal fees, court rulings, and settlements.
Installation Floater
While commercial property insurance can protect your business’s equipment and property, it may not provide coverage for materials purchased to be installed at a client’s location. However, installation floaters can be used instead to make sure the materials being held or transported have some coverage protections.
Commercial Umbrella Insurance
Finally, commercial umbrella insurance is a great option for your business. Like general liability insurance, it covers a wide range of potential damages, but where general liability provides basic coverage, commercial liability insurance amplifies your existing coverage and can cover items that your other policies miss. Basically, it’s a catch-all policy that can be a lifesaver in some situations.
Key Takeaways
If you’re an electrician or work with electricity regularly, you may already be fully aware of the dangers you face on the job. Make sure you and your business are protected against potential damages and liabilities by investing in the right insurance options, from general liability policies to workers comp, equipment breakdown insurance, installation floaters, and more.
To learn more about the best insurance options for electricians or to request a quote on a policy for your business, reach out to our top-tier team at Keller Insurance Agency today!
