If you own a retail business, you rely on your employees to keep the doors open. You also owe them the security of a safe working space. Should they sustain harm, you might owe them supplementary help. Often, you have to provide injured employees with workers' compensation. What are cases that might lead you to have to pay out to your workers?
Workers' compensation risks come from everywhere in your business. The more you do to protect employees, the more you might be able to avoid workers' compensation claims.
Workers' Compensation in Brief
Employees could get hurt or sick on the job, even in totally accidental circumstances. The business might have to pay the employee for the costs they sustain in the accident. This is workers' compensation.
Workers' compensation coverage will pay supplementary income while employees cannot work. It can help them pay medical bills, and even day to day costs, while they need this support. Sometimes, injured parties can even receive this help after they return to work.
Often, businesses must provide workers' compensation insurance to employees by law. So, you’ll likely have to get a policy when you plan to open a retail business. You might ask, however, why it is so important to do so?
Common Workers' Compensation Risks in Your Office
You might think that your retail space or office doesn't pose a lot of workers' comp risks. Employees might not work with heavy machinery or dangerous materials. However, workers' comp risks exist in every space. These might include:
- Slip-and-fall risks: Your employees might slip, fall and hurt themselves, even when simply walking around the space.
- Repetitive injury risks: Employees might work on computers, consistently typing on a keypad. They might have to do heavy lifting all day. Over time, this could lead to deteriorating joints and other internal damage.
- Driving injuries: If employees drive a car as part of their duties, they might get hurt in accidents.
- Workplace violence: Someone might get hurt by another person, even when they are trying to do their jobs.
- Fires: Burn injuries might result should a fire break out in the store.
These accidents might occur at any moment in your business. A variety of other unexpected, but no less damaging, accidents could also strike.
In these cases you might owe your employees workers' comp. As a result, you should have a workers' comp insurance policy from the moment you open your store. You do need this coverage. Don't wait to get it.
Protect your retail business today, call Buschbach Insurance Agency at (708) 423-2350.
Also Read: What to Do in Case of a Workers' Comp Claim