Home-based businesses offer several conveniences, such as flexible schedules, avoiding childcare costs, and no commuting, and today have become a preferred option among many business owners. However, even if you run a business from home, you must have insurance coverage required to ensure that you are adequately covered for damages and loss. One such insurance coverage is workers’ compensation coverage.
In this blog, we will discuss the significance of workers’ compensation insurance for home-based businesses, their coverages, and how much the insurance will cost you.
Coverage for Businesses with Home-Based Employees
If you have one or more workers on your payroll, you are legally bound to have workers’ compensation coverage. In contrast, it covers you if they are injured or fall ill while at work; the coverage also includes injuries that your staff may receive at their home for jobs that allow them to telecommute.
The workers’ compensation insurance that you buy protects you from spending your money on their medical and rehabilitation costs and compensating them for lost wages during the recovery period.
Coverage for Home-Based Business Injuries
You may consider your home to be a safe place to run your business, but contrary to belief, accidents in home-based businesses are frequent. The chief factor for this is that you build your home for residential purposes, and its design and infrastructure may not be suitable or adequate for running a business venture. A commercial building is constructed taking into consideration the potential risk factors specific to the business and incorporates safety features to limit accidents that are not usually seen in home-based businesses.
When you have workers’ compensation insurance, you are covered by the following:
- Ambulance and emergency medical care
- Treatment
- Part recompensation of lost wages
Range of Liability Coverage for Home-Based Businesses
When an individual is injured on your property, the liability coverage in your homeowners’ insurance may pay for their medical treatment, but your liability protection may not be valid or sufficient to cover injuries to your workers in your home. If you have not informed your insurance provider about your home-based business, they may even cancel your homeowners’ insurance policy for misinformation and breach of contract.
If your worker files a lawsuit against you for their injuries, you can expect added legal bills to your already mounting expenses, which may spell disaster for your business. Owning business insurance with workers’ compensation coverage can provide you with the much-required financial relief to overcome medical and legal expenses.
Accident Prevention Tips for Home-Based Businesses
While accidents are unavoidable, you can reduce their occurrence by making the following changes:
- Teach your workers safety guidelines that they must follow and also precautions to be taken. This applies to workers who work from your home and also those who work for you from their own homes.
- Install safety features in your home, like anti-skid flooring, handrails, and fire alarms.
Cost of Workers’ Compensation Insurance for Home-Based Businesses
The cost of workers’ compensation insurance coverage for home-based businesses may depend on the following:
- Type of business
- Number of workers
- Location
- Prior workplace-related accidents
Secure Your Home-Based Business with RMS Insurance
For more details on workers’ compensation insurance coverage, contact us today. At RMS Insurance Brokerage, LLC, we provide the most comprehensive insurance coverage for all business types.