If you’ve just registered yourself as a sole trader or you run a business operating within a popular trade like construction, joinery, plumbing or painting and decorating, it’s a good idea to look into securing a cost-effective insurance for yourself, employees and third parties.

The truth is, the only time to purchase insurance is before the incident occurs. That sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people ignore their legal insurance requirements. Look below to read our guide and find out the best time to purchase insurance for yourself or your company.

Acquire insurance after registering your business but before starting work

Once you’ve signed up as a sole trader or registered your business with HMRC, it’s the right time to start looking for the relevant insurance that will cover you while you work. The best time to do this is prior to completing any form of work, as you never know when you may need insurance services.

There are many different insurance packages available from Tradesman Saver. These include public liability insurance, which is perfect for covering any harm or injury that you cause to third parties while on a building site or in a customer’s home completing work.

Additionally, employers in the UK are legally obliged to provide insurance cover for their employees while on the job. In this respect, it’s vital that you acquire your insurance cover before any work commences, as it means that you will not run into any trouble further down the line.

If you have an employee who picks up an injury or illness as a result of working for you, employers liability insurance will help you to pay compensation to this person, should this necessity arise.

Prior to contract work on a building site

As is the case with a lot of tradesman insurance, the main buzzword here is ‘prior’. The only way that you can reap the benefits of insurance cover is by purchasing an insurance package before the incident occurs, not after. Are you a foreman of a building site or a business about to begin work on a large construction project in an area that’s quite populated with the general public?

As well as ensuring that you have all of the correct resources for the job in hand and the facilities are adequate for your workforce, you should consider the health and safety of the general public. This is where public liability insurance comes in. If there’s an incident in or around your site, you could find yourself at the mercy of solicitors and lawyers.

Public liability insurance will cover the cost of any legal action or compensation claims made against your business following any injury or circumstances that may occur while on or off site. Opting for this insurance, then, can prove to be a very sound financial decision.

Whether it’s employers liability insurance, which is legally required in many cases, or public liability insurance, you can ensure that, when you really need it, you’ll be glad that you acted in advance.