Professional Liability Insurance
Professional liability insurance is a financial safety net to help protect you when unexpected situations or claims threaten your livelihood.
What is Professional Liability Insurance?
Professional liability insurance is designed to protect you against claims arising from errors, omissions, mistakes, or negligence related to your advice, instruction, or professional services.
Your professional services are the tasks you’re legally qualified to perform based on your training, certifications, and licenses. For example, deep tissue massages for massage therapists or dermaplane facials for estheticians.
Professional Liability = Errors and Omissions = E&O = Professional Indemnity
How Does Professional Liability Insurance Protect My Business?
Professional liability insurance is there if someone makes a claim against you that states your error caused them physical or financial harm. It helps pay for legal fees, court costs, and other judgments related to the claim, so you’re not forced to pay out of pocket.
Professional liability claims can come from all sorts of situations where there is a real or perceived error, mistake, or negligent action. Errors can include things like:
- Your advice causes an injury to a client
- A product you use during a treatment triggers a severe allergic reaction that makes the client miss work
- The service you provide does not live up to client expectations
Costs of liability claims like these can add up quickly, especially if there’s a lawsuit. Professional liability insurance is there to help cover these costs so your business doesn’t go bankrupt in the event of a claim.
What Does Professional Liability Insurance Cover?
Professional liability business insurance covers a variety of third-party claims and expenses related to the services you offer, including:
Negligence
Damage or harm caused by carelessness or lack of reasonable care.
Example: A new client mentions their nut allergy during booking. When they come in for their hair appointment, you use the same shampoo you always use, but don’t check the ingredients first. Unfortunately, the shampoo contains almond oil, which causes a severe allergic reaction. They end up with costly medical bills from the ER and make a negligence claim against you.
Misrepresentation
Damages arising from false or misleading information you provide your clients.
Example: You start promoting a new facial treatment that is guaranteed to reduce clients’ wrinkles to nothing. But when a client purchases this service, they see no noticeable change, only increased dryness, so they sue for misrepresentation.
Errors and Omissions:
Mistakes in your work or services that cause financial harm to another person.
Example: While performing a deep tissue massage on a client, you aggravate a previous back injury. The client has to miss work and loses a whole week’s pay. They sue you for the money they lost because of the aggravated injury.
Inaccurate Advice
Advice that causes harm to someone.
Example: Say you’re a skincare specialist and you recommend a moisturizing product for a client’s dry skin. Instead of easing the dryness, the product causes a severe skin reaction. The client sues for the cost of medical treatment and emotional distress.
In addition to medical bills, professional liability insurance can cover legal defense costs in all of these scenarios. These include things like attorney’s fees, court costs, and other expenses associated with defending a lawsuit.
Why You Need Professional Liability Insurance
Every small business owner and independent contractor needs liability insurance for protection from financial trouble due to accidents, mistakes, or claims.
In the beauty and bodywork profession, you provide services with the goal of making your clients feel good. But even with the best intentions and utmost care, things can still go wrong sometimes.
A skin treatment could trigger an unexpected reaction. A client could be dissatisfied with their new hair color. Or a massage could accidentally lead to an injury. Professional liability insurance provides support for situations like these.
Understanding the Cost of Professional Liability Coverage
Professional liability insurance from Beauty & Bodywork Insurance (BBI) costs as little as $9.99/month or $96/year.
BBI strives to provide you with the coverage you need without straining your budget. That’s why we include both professional and general liability in our base policies, giving you more coverage for a lower price.
We also offer optional add-ons like cyber liability and tool and supplies coverage, so you can customize your liability policy to best fit your needs!
General and Professional Liability Limits
The most your policy will pay in a 12 month policy period for bodily injury and property damage claims that you become legally obligated to pay due to your business and professional services.
$3,000,000
The maximum amount your policy will pay in a 12-month period for bodily injury and property damage claims that result from the products you use to perform your services. However, it does not cover products that are sold or distributed.
$3,000,000
The amount that your policy will pay for claims arising out of one or more of the following offenses:
-False Arrest, detention or imprisonment
-Malicious prosecution
-Wrongful Eviction or Wrongful Entry
-Oral or written publications that slander or libels a person or organization
-Oral or written publication or material that violates a person’s right of privacy
-The use of another’s advertising idea in your advertisement
Included
The maximum the insurance carrier will pay for a bodily injury or property damage claim that you become legally obligated to pay due to your business and professional services.
$2,000,000
Applies to damage by fire to premises rented to the insured and to damage regardless of cause to premises (including contents) occupied by the insured for 7 days or less.
$300,000
A general liability coverage that reimburses others, without regard to the insured’s liability, for medical or funeral expenses incurred by such persons as a result of bodily injury or death sustained by accident under the conditions specified in the policy.
Any One Person: $5,000
i. Please note these are brief definitions of coverage. Your policy may be more restrictive in its language. Refer to the actual policy for a complete description of coverages and exclusions. If you would like to see a sample policy, please contact us.
How to Get Your Liability Policy
- Go to the application page
- Choose your professional service(s)
- Answer a few quick questions about your business (like your name and address)
- Opt in to any additional coverages
- Input payment information
- You’re covered!
Common Questions About Professional Liability Insurance
What Does Professional Liability Insurance Not Cover?
Professional liability insurance does not include coverage for:
- Intentional, dishonest, and criminal acts
- Deliberate misconduct
- Fraudulent activities
- Property damage
- Governmental fines and penalties
- Cyber breaches (unless you add cyber liability coverage)
- Claims you were aware of before the policy began
Professional liability limitations and exclusions can vary, so always review your policy to determine exact coverages and exclusions.
Is Professional Liability Insurance Required by Law?
Not usually, but some states may require beauty and bodywork professionals to carry this type of insurance. Check with your state licensure requirements, local laws, and your landlord (if you have one) to ensure you have the right coverage.
What Other Types of Business Insurance Do I Need?
In addition to professional liability insurance, there are several other types of insurance that beauty professionals might need:
- General Liability Insurance: This is the most commonly required coverage. It covers physical injuries or property damage related to your business operations or products. BBI includes professional and general liability insurance in our base policy.
- Tools and Supplies Coverage: Also known as “inland marine,” this covers damage or theft to the tools you use for your services.
- Cyber Liability: Coverage that protects your business against losses stemming from incidents like data breaches, malware, and phishing.
- Additional insureds: This covers people, organizations, or other entities that could be named alongside your business in a lawsuit. Including them as an additional insured on your policy extends your coverage benefits to them.
Professional Liability Insurance: A Smart Move for Beauty Professionals
At BBI, we’re committed to helping you navigate your insurance needs by offering tailored coverage solutions to meet your unique needs and circumstances. Let us help you secure your business, so you can continue to create beauty with confidence.
You’re in Expert Hands
Here’s what other people have to say about their experience from over 420+ available reviews.
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Chris Van Leeuwen | VP of Agency Development
Chris Van Leeuwen is the VP of Agency Development for Beauty and Bodywork Insurance. He has held the prestigious Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) designation since 1996.
Because he strongly believes in the importance of helping business owners understand their insurance coverage, Chris uses his wealth of experience to offer insights to small business owners across the country who are looking to navigate business liability insurance.
Chris Van Leeuwen is the VP of Agency Development for Beauty and Bodywork Insurance. He has held the prestigious Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) designation since 1996.
Because he strongly believes in the importance of helping business owners understand their insurance coverage, Chris uses his wealth of experience to offer insights to small business owners across the country who are looking to navigate business liability insurance.
JoAnne Hammer | Program Manager
JoAnne Hammer is the Program Manager for Beauty and Bodywork Insurance. She has held the prestigious Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) designation since July 2004.
JoAnne understands that starting and operating a business takes a tremendous amount of time, dedication, and financial resources. She believes that insurance is the single best way to protect your investment, business, and personal assets.
JoAnne Hammer is the Program Manager for Beauty and Bodywork Insurance. She has held the prestigious Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) designation since July 2004.
JoAnne understands that starting and operating a business takes a tremendous amount of time, dedication, and financial resources. She believes that insurance is the single best way to protect your investment, business, and personal assets.