Plan for the Road Ahead with Project Manager Insurance

As a project manager, you basically have to see the future. Your high-level vision and planning skills help your clients grow without sacrificing organization. If you get caught up in the future of your clients’ businesses and ignore the future of your company, you may not notice obstacles until it’s too late.

Accidents can happen in any business. Therefore, you need to decide how you’ll handle these roadblocks before they’re at your doorstep. Here at Simply Business, we help small business owners find coverage to protect what they’ve created against the challenges that life may throw their way.

We know that finding and selecting business insurance can be daunting, so we strive to make the process as simple as possible. All you have to do is answer a few questions to get custom policy quotes that consider the laws in your state.

The best part is that it takes only a few minutes — no prior insurance knowledge required.

Ready to take the next step?

Here are three types of business insurance coverage available to project managers:

• General liability insurance
• Professional liability insurance
• Workers compensation insurance

Each type of policy covers different scenarios, but all insurance offers these benefits:

• It can protect your business from certain claims.
• It can cover damages caused by your negligence.
• Proof of insurance can help clients feel good about your work.
• It may be legally required where you’re located.

What Does Insurance Cover for Project Managers?

We know taking a leadership role and mapping a strategy is in your DNA, but for now, you can sit back and relax. Below we’ll explore the three types of policies to consider, what they can cover, and who needs them.

General Liability Insurance

When you think of project management liability insurance, it’s likely that general liability insurance coverage is what comes to mind. This type of plan typically covers bodily injury or property damage to a third party. While the concept is simple, the impact is profound.

The average claim for damage or accidents in small businesses is $30,000, so being insured could protect your finances from a big hit. You also may choose to add contents coverage, which could potentially offset the cost of stolen business property.

Is your business dangerous enough to need liability insurance? It could be, especially considering that it doesn’t have to take a bad accident to encounter a setback.

Imagine that a client visits you to review a project plan. As they move around the conference room, they trip over an extension cord and their laptop crashes to the floor.

Your client could sue you for the damages, and you’d probably have to pay for them. The beauty of GL insurance is that your policy could help cover those claims, saving you some cash.

So what does general liability insurance usually cover? Here’s a recap:

• Third-party property damage (e.g., clients or vendors)
• Bodily injury
• Medical expenses
• Personal and advertising injury
• And more

General liability insurance does not cover:

• Personal property damage
• Professional services
• Employee injury and workers compensation
• Damage to your work
• Motor vehicles during business use
• Intentional injury or damage
• And more

Professional Liability Insurance

Since you’re in the business of giving advice, you could come face-to-face with a negligence claim. Whether you agree with the statement or not, your client could sue you for something you did (or failed to do) that harmed their business.

For example, imagine you made a mistake in your timeline planning. The small error snowballed into a major delay in the launch of a project, which cost your client a substantial amount of money. Your client is angry, and they sue you for negligence and business damages.

If you had professional liability insurance, your policy could likely cover legal fees and damages. Without coverage, you’d need to find a way to pay for your defense lawyer and the financial harm you caused. Even if the court ruled in your favor, you’d likely have attorney’s fees to pay.

The potentially high price of handling a negligence case is enough to make PL insurance worth a review.

Let’s review the scenarios that professional liability insurance usually covers:

• Legal defense costs
• Omissions or alleged omissions
• Negligence or alleged negligence
• Claims and damages
• And more

Having attorney professional liability insurance does not usually protect you from:

• Property damage
• Intentional acts and omissions
• Bodily injury
• Medical expenses
• And more

Workers Compensation Insurance

When you graduate from a one-person show to a party of two or more, some new insurance considerations come into play. Most states require employers to have workers compensation insurance, whether you have part-time or full-time employees. Workers comp covers medical bills, lost wages, and any legal fees associated with an employee who got sick or injured on the job.

Aside from potential legal requirements, workers comp insurance also helps you and your employees during tough times. The average workers comp claim is just over $40,000, and even seemingly smaller injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome can cost employers an average of $29,918.

Workers compensation insurance may cover:

• Medical payments
• Lost wages
• Rehabilitation expenses
• Death benefits

Why Should I Get Project Manager Insurance?

Each time you help a client plan with a project, you have to address potential issues or risks. Carefully considering all options to choose the best course of action helps you excel at your job. Now you can take the time to apply that same critical thinking and expertise to your own company.

If you’ve ever had a project not go exactly to plan (and haven’t we all?), you know that even careful planning can be derailed. While you may work carefully and thoroughly, mistakes can happen. Rather than ignoring it, taking the step to get business insurance empowers you with preparedness.

By getting coverage today, you can take the weight of “what could happen” off your shoulders. Forty-three percent of small business owners polled reported being threatened with or involved in a civil lawsuit, which means you could face a similar situation.

The average costs uninsured small business owners are exposed to include:

• $30,000 for property damage or accident claims
• $50,000 for reputational harm claims (e.g., slander or libel)
• $20,000 for a client slip-and-fall case

Unless you dream of spending thousands of dollars on legal fees and damages, getting project manager liability insurance can give you some peace of mind. Additionally, coverage may be legally required in some states.

In addition to potentially protecting your bank account in the event of damages or a negligence claim, insurance also can help you get ahead.

We can provide you with a certificate of insurance (COI), which may help you rent office space and build trust with potential clients and employees.

Project Manager Insurance FAQ

Why Choose Simply Business?

Thousands of clients (including project managers like you) trust Simply Business to protect their business. Simply Business is one of the fastest-growing online small business insurance platforms. We make it easy to compare and choose a business policy from top insurers you can trust.

So why choose Simply Business? It’s, well, simple:

• We’re fast and affordable. You have plenty to do today, so we make getting insured as quick and simple as possible. Plus, our policies are affordable and ready when you are.

• We’re flexible with coverage. As your business grows, so do your insurance needs. We can get your business set up with your first policy and help you find more coverage as your business grows.

• We get your business. One-size-fits-all insurance is outdated. Get the exact coverage your business needs, when you need it.

Nobody can run your business quite like you can, which is why we believe you deserve insurance as unique as you are.

This content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is not intended to provide legal, tax, accounting, investment, or any other form of professional advice.