Warehouse insurance
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Why is warehousing insurance important?
From property damage and refrigerated stock to employers’ and public liability, warehouses face a high level of risk. Falls from a height, injuries from moving objects, trips and falls – all of these are extremely common accidents in a warehouse, and can trigger expensive claims. Your cover is built to work as a backstop, letting you focus on running the business, not everything that could go wrong.
- seasonal stock increase during specified busy trading periods
- warehouse storage insurance, cyber, theft, and assault – up to your policy limit
- options for common types of warehouse insurance (tell us what you need)
What does warehouse insurance cover?
Typically, we’ll start with property damage insurance, built to cover businesses like yours against incidents which cause damage to your building and its contents, fixtures, and fittings. Most quotes also help you build in employers’ liability insurance for your team, if you have one. From there, you can add specific cover for your warehouse, from business interruption to deterioration of refrigerated stock, depending on your business needs.
Property damage insurance
In case something happens to your warehouse premises.
Loss of licence insurance
In case your warehouse premises licence is removed.
Money and assault insurance
In case of theft and/or assault to you or an employee.
Employee theft insurance
In case an employee steals from your business.
Employers’ liability insurance
In case anyone gets ill or injured while working for your business.
Public liability insurance
In case your business causes an injury, illness, or property damage.
Product liability insurance
In case your products cause an injury or damage.
Commercial legal expenses insurance
In case you’re faced with legal costs in connection with your warehouse.
Cyber liability insurance
In case a cyber risk could damage your business and reputation.
Property damage insurance
In case something happens to your warehouse premises.
What’s typically covered by warehouse property damage insurance?
- the cost of repairing damage to the structure of your building (or rebuilding it from scratch)
- damage to insured contents, fixtures, and fittings
- damage to underground pipes and cables you’re responsible for
For example:
- you need to repair your warehouse’s resin flooring, following fire damage
- your warehouse’s office and reception windows are damaged in a storm, and need replacing
What isn’t covered?
- weather damage to moveable property in the open, fences, gates, vegetation, lawns, and shrubs
- theft, attempted theft, or malicious damage to property in a garden, yard, open space, or any open-fronted or open-sided building
Other exclusions apply – read the policy documents carefully to be clear on what is and isn’t covered.
Loss of licence insurance
In case your warehouse premises licence is removed.
What’s typically covered by loss of licence insurance?
- forfeiture, suspension, or withdrawal of the premises licence
- resulting loss of gross income
- costs incurred by you (within reason), while trying to maintain your gross income
- depreciation in value of the premises, if you can’t get a licence
What isn’t covered?
Loss of licence resulting from:
- any alterations to the premises made without the appropriate authority’s consent
- failure to comply with any direction or requirement of the licensing or other authority
- any town or country planning scheme
- your own misconduct, connivance, neglect or omission, or failure to take necessary steps to keep the licence in force
Money and assault insurance
In case of theft and/or assault to you or an employee.
What’s typically covered by money and assault insurance?
- cover while your property is in transit by road, rail, or freight
- anywhere in Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, and the Republic of Ireland
- includes sea or air transit between these territories
For example:
- you’re transporting money to the bank and someone breaks into your vehicle, stealing the cash
- an employee is assaulted while cashing up on your warehouse premises
What isn’t covered?
- clerical or accounting errors, or shortages due to error or omission
- loss from any unattended vehicle
- loss from coin-operated vending, gaming, or amusement machine, or payphone, unless specifically agreed in your policy
Other exclusions apply – read the policy documents carefully to be clear on what is and isn’t covered.
Employee theft insurance
In case an employee steals from your business.
What’s typically covered by employee theft insurance?
- money or property theft arising from employee fraud or dishonesty
- auditor fees incurred while substantiating the amount of loss
- costs for rewriting or amending computer software programs or security codes, to prevent recurrent theft
For example:
- an employee steals money from the business during their final shift, and you incur further costs while working out how much has been stolen
- you need to hire an IT contractor to make your systems are watertight after an employee accesses and uses your security codes
What isn’t covered?
- unexplained shortages
- loss of interest or consequential loss
- loss caused by employees before your cover started
Other exclusions apply – read the policy documents carefully to be clear on what is and isn’t covered.
Employers’ liability insurance
In case anyone gets ill or injured while working for your business.
What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- an injury or illness that happens as a result of working for you (including temps and casual workers)
For example:
- your warehouse manager claims her chronic lower back pain was caused as a result of her working conditions with you, and sues for damages
- a temporary Christmas employee falls from a height while working in your warehouse, breaking both legs
Employers’ liability insurance is required by law if you have people working for you. Without it, you could be fined up to £2,500 a day for each employee.
Public liability insurance
In case your business causes an injury, illness, or property damage.
What’s typically covered by public liability insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- damage to someone’s property, caused by your warehouse
- an injury or illness caused by your business activities or products
- accidental damage or injuries caused by your employees
For example:
- a client is injured by a forklift operator while touring your warehouse, and makes a claim against you
- a maintenance professional slips on your warehouse floor following a spillage, fracturing their knee
If you do employ anyone, you’re usually required by law to have employers’ liability insurance too.
Product liability insurance
In case your products cause an injury or damage.
What’s typically covered by product liability insurance?
- your legal liability for injuries or damage caused by your products, up to the agreed limit
- associated costs and expenses
Exclusions and limitations apply to this cover – read the policy documents carefully to be clear on what is and isn’t covered.
Commercial legal expenses insurance
In case you’re faced with legal costs in connection with your warehouse.
What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?
- legal costs that you’re responsible for, within your business
- property damage, nuisance, or trespass – specifically, the associated legal claims and compensation payouts
- tax and compliance disputes and investigations you need help with
- access to expert advice – including a tax advice phone line, confidential 24/7 legal phone line, and crisis support to help you protect your professional reputation
For example:
- you need to recover costs incurred, following a randomised tax investigation
- vandals break into your warehouse premises and cause extensive damage – you incur legal costs while bringing a case against them
Cyber liability insurance
In case a cyber risk could damage your business and reputation.
What’s typically covered by cyber liability insurance?
- claims against you for data breach, virus transmission, loss of reputation, or breach of intellectual property rights
- data-breach expense, including professional legal, forensic, IT, PR, and crisis management services
- computer system damage costs and lost income
- cyber crime committed against you, such as telephone hacking or data and money theft
Your insurer may require you to:
- back up original data at least every seven days
- protect your computer system with a virus protection software package which is licensed to you, paid for and updated every seven days
- put appropriate procedures in place for disposing of and destroying hardware and hard copy files in order to protect data
Other exclusions apply – read the policy documents carefully to be clear on what is and isn’t covered.
This content has been created for general information purposes. Make sure you have the right level of business insurance by checking your policy documentation for details. Read our full Terms and Conditions
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Warehousing insurance FAQ
Whether you’re new to buying business insurance or you’ve been trading for a while, here are the answers to some commonly asked questions about warehouse insurance, including what type of insurance covers inventory. You can also check out our business insurance FAQs.
This depends on your warehouse, the business you’re running, and your associated activities and contracts. An insurer will take your overall risk profile into account when building your quote, so the average warehouse insurance cost will vary between business and premises types.
If you provide other services, make sure you’re covered:
Other types of insurance
Each insurer looks at CCJs and IVAs differently – some apply stricter rules than others, but having a CCJ or IVA doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t be able to buy insurance.
You can choose the payment type that suits your business and cash flow best. Some customers prefer to pay in one go, while others prefer to pay a regular monthly amount, like you do with lots of other bills. Simply Business offer three ways to pay for your policy:
- one-off credit or debit card payment
- BACS payment
- Direct Debit
If you choose to pay by Direct Debit, our credit provider, Premium Credit, pays Simply Business the full amount for your policy up front. You then repay Premium Credit in 10 monthly instalments.
This will depend on whether you have employers’ liability insurance in place. Public liability insurance is designed to protect your business against the consequences of legal action brought by members of the public for injuries or damage to their belongings. But when it comes to your employees causing injury or damage, this protection only activates if you also have employers’ liability insurance.
If you employ people, you’re required by law to have employers’ liability insurance.
There’s one exception here. Family businesses that aren’t incorporated as a limited company are not legally required to have employers’ liability insurance. The government defines a “family business” as one where all your employees are closely related to you (as a spouse, civil partner, sibling, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, step-parent, stepchild or half-sibling). So if you run an unincorporated family business and you choose not to get employers’ liability insurance, it’s important to know that your public liability insurance wouldn’t cover you against damage or injury caused by your team.
We create this content for general information purposes and it should not be taken as advice. Always check policy documentation for details and seek professional advice. Read our full Terms and Conditions
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