Printers Business Insurance

There are many different types of printing services employing about 375,000 employees according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics as June 2022. Though this number is down from the pre-Covid 19 pandemic of 428,000 in January of 2019, it has improved from the lowest employee count in April 2020 of 341,000. Though a small increase, it is impressive as more consumers move to digital - news, shopping, blog reading, and photo sharing. A key to survival for a print service provider is to diversify your business.

General Liability Exposure

Is your shop frequented by customers daily? Just having a business location open to the public makes you responsible for occurrences of bodily injury or property damage. You may even be required to carry general liability to obtain an occupational license in your local area. If you sell a product, there is also exposure to product liability claims.

Professional Exposure

Mistakes in printing easily happen, due to miscommunication, typos, and other errors. If you make a mistake with a phone number, date, or price, or even miss a deadline, Errors & Omissions also known as Professional Liability insurance is available to respond to accusations and allegations of professional error.

Worker’s Compensation Exposure

The greatest risk for employee injuries comes from back injuries associated with lifting heavy items. Besides lifting, employee injuries can happen in any number of ways, even slip and fall, and repetitive motion injuries, to name a few. Regardless, a print operation without workers compensation should be on alert as accidents do happen and without this coverage, your business could be responsible to provide all statutory benefits that an injured employee is eligible for in your state.

Environmental Impairment Exposure

For large printing operations, how can you safely eliminate ink and solvents without polluting groundwater, soil, or air? Make sure you're adhering to the guidelines of the EPA, state, and local government.

Automobile Exposure

If your company owns any type of vehicle, whether you provide for your sales staff or do delivery, you will need a business auto policy.

Equipment Breakdown

If your printing equipment broke down in the middle of a big job, how much money could your business lose? Equipment breakdown covers the sudden and accidental breakdown of certain components within the equipment. If a covered equipment breakdown causes damage to the rest of your location, most property policies exclude coverage for damage caused by an equipment breakdown incident.

Business Owners Policy (BOP)

A BOP, a business owner's policy combines general liability and property coverage. These two coverage types are explained in further detail below.

General Liability Insurance

General liability insurance is sometimes called business liability insurance. It provides your business with a legal defense if you are sued for property damage or bodily injury liability from accidents related to your business’s operations.

It's a good idea to have a General Liability Insurance Policy if you’re small business:

• Works face-to-face with clients or customers
• Must have general liability insurance to enter into a contract
• Uses third-party locations for your business activities
• Sells a physical product to customers

Although general liability usually includes liability coverage for personal and advertising injury, with printing and publishing companies, this coverage is typically excluded from the general liability policy and provided by the E &O or Professional Liability policy, since these types of firms are in the business of printing and advertising.

Commercial Property Insurance

Covers business-owned assets that allow you to operate your business. Owned buildings, printing equipment, computers, furniture, fixtures, everything that your company owns is covered by this policy for covered perils. Read all exclusions in a property policy so you are aware of what is not covered.

Professional Liability/Errors & Omissions

Insures your business for mistakes, omissions, and negligence that occur from the professional services you provide, usually limited to financial damages, but for printers and publishers, this coverage will extend to personal and advertising injury such as libel, slander, copyright infringement, false advertising, wrongful detention, wrongful entry, and defamation of character to name a few.

Workers’ Compensation Insurance

Worker compensation insurance, also known as workers comp, or workers' compensation insurance is an often-mandatory type of insurance that assists when an employee experiences an injury while they are at work. It will cover medical costs and a portion of lost wages if the worker is unable to work because of an injury.

If you have employees, workers' compensation insurance is recommended. In most states, you have to purchase when you reach a certain number of employees, this number can vary by state. Make sure you check your state’s requirements to make sure your company complies. If you don’t comply, you could find yourself facing fines from authorities and liability for payment of the statutory benefits that an employee was entitled to.

Cyber Insurance

This coverage is not provided by general liability, though it may be included in a professional liability policy, a stand-alone Cyber policy is the way to go. It can pay for costs related to data breaches, media liability, ransomware attacks, malware, email phishing or fraudulent fund transfer, depending on the options purchased. A cyber insurance policy can help protect your company's financial future. Costs incurred from system recovery, information loss, the legal requirement of notifying and providing credit monitoring to clients, forensic expenses of the investigation, business income loss, ransom payment will deplete your company’s resources.

Commercial Auto Insurance

This policy is a package of several different coverage types but the main purpose is to protect the business from liability arising from the use of your business-owned or long-term leased vehicles. Auto insurance is required in almost every state. Bodily injury and property damage caused by your business vehicle when at fault for an accident are covered. Besides the liability coverage, comprehensive and collision coverage is available on company vehicles with deductible options. Depending on the financial responsibility laws on vehicles in your state, other available coverage may include personal injury protection (aka No-Fault) and uninsured motorists bodily injury and property damage coverage.

Vehicles covered by small-business auto insurance:

• Cars/SUVs
• Pickup trucks
• Delivery/cargo vans
• Box trucks
• Flatbed trucks

Commercial auto insurance covers a wide range of things, including:

• Bodily injury liability coverage
• Property damage liability coverage
• Medical payments, no-fault or personal injury coverage
• Uninsured motorist coverage
• Comprehensive physical damage coverage
• Collision coverage
• Rental Reimbursement
• Towing
• Permanently attached equipment

Umbrella Insurance

An umbrella insurance policy can fill in the gap when the underlying liability insurance policy limits are exhausted by paid claims. Without it, you would be responsible for damages in excess of your general, auto, or employers’ liability coverage limit. Small companies that experience litigation often wish they had purchased an excess or umbrella liability policy.

The cost for business insurance largely depends on your business’s annual gross revenue, annual payroll, assets insured, location, and construction type of the building, year built, number of vehicles, and the services provided. To give a price here could never be accurate. Visit us at insuranceadvisor.com to request your quote.