Is Your Salon Ready for the Holidays? Insurance Tips for Beauticians

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Not only do salon owners need to ensure they stock up on the products they need to make their clients look glamorous and shine, but they should also consider ensuring their salons are adequately covered with comprehensive beauty insurance policies.

The holiday season can be hectic. It is vital to ensure your clients can relax amidst the chaos while visiting your salon and leave feeling refreshed and revitalized. But beauticians and salon owners also need to feel confident and relaxed and have the protection they need if something goes wrong.

What Liability Risks Do Salon Owners and Beauticians Face During the Holiday Season?

While there are ways to minimize the liability risks beauticians and salon owners face, among the most common risks they should be mindful of during the holiday season and throughout the year includes:

1. Accidental Slip and Falls

From the snow and ice outside your front door and on your property to wet, slippery floors indoors, accidental slips and falls are common and can lead to a client’s serious injury. An increase in foot traffic to your salon ups that risk.

2. Product Liability Claims

The products you use on and sell to your clients could cause them adverse or allergic reactions. Like a slip and fall accident, you can be liable for injuries your clients suffer from the products you use on them or sell to them to use at home.

3. Professional Liability Claims

Beauticians and stylists that make a mistake that hurts a client, such as an accidental burn from a styling tool or giving the wrong treatment advice that results in injuries or damages a client’s hair or skin, can lead to a claim of professional negligence against a salon owner or an individual beautician.

4. Equipment Malfunctions

Unexpected and sudden malfunctions of salon equipment because of an internal mechanical or electrical issue or faulty equipment that harms a client can also dramatically impact your finances.

5. Theft and Fraud

Theft and fraud are always risks for any business owner, and unfortunately, there is typically an increase in crime during the holiday season. Product theft, fraudulent financial transactions, and break-ins that damage your salon as thieves make off with your computers and inventory are never-ending concerns.

6. Fire and Water Damage

A fire in your salon or a neighbouring property that affects your commercial space or a burst water pipe that causes significant damage to your salon and business contents can happen at any time.

What Insurance Coverages Should Salon Owners Have?

Salon owners need multiple coverages in a single, comprehensive insurance policy to cover all aspects of their businesses, including:

• General Liability Insurance: General liability insurance is designed to pay for claims of third-party bodily injury and property damage caused by your salon or on your premises resulting from unexpected accidents, such as a slip and fall.

• Commercial Property Insurance: Commercial property insurance covers damages to your salon and commercial workspace (whether rented or owned) caused by fire, water, natural disasters, theft, and vandalism.

• Business Interruption Insurance: Sometimes included along with commercial property insurance, business interruption insurance covers your salon’s lost income and operational overhead after an insurable loss, like a fire that damages the property and forces you to close temporarily for repairs. If it’s not part of your existing policy, it’s wise to add it.

• Product Liability Insurance: This type of coverage is critical for beauticians, salon owners, and stylists. It covers claims alleging third-party bodily injuries or third-party property damages caused by the beauty products you use and sell. Product liability insurance is typically included in a general liability insurance policy, however, double-check to ensure your policy includes it.

• Professional Liability Insurance: Also called errors and omissions (E&O) insurance, professional liability insurance shields you from allegations of professional negligence, damages caused by mistakes, and wrongful advice.

• Cyber Insurance: With more salons doing business online (selling products, taking reservations, using social media, accepting digital payments), cyber insurance is essential for covering damages and losses if you suffer a data breach or are hacked. There are two kinds of cyber insurance: cyber liability insurance (helps you recover from a data breach or cyber-attack) and cybercrime insurance (covers loss of funds due to specific types of cyber-attacks).

What Insurance Coverages Should an Independent Beautician Have?

For independent beauticians or stylists who rent chairs at a salon and may be considered contractors-for-hire as they are not full-time employees, it’s critical to be aware that even though the salon where you work may be insured, the salon owner’s policy may not cover you. Or, the coverage a salon owner’s policy has may be insufficient to pay for expenses if a client files a claim for damages against you.

That’s why independent beauticians should also invest in a customized beautician insurance policy to cover their liability risks. A policy of this type might include the following coverages:

• General Liability Insurance: Whether you rent a chair in a salon or work independently, you should have general liability insurance to cover the cost of third-party bodily injuries and property damages.

• Commercial Property Insurance: Covers your salon, its contents, and inventory if damaged by fire, water, a natural disaster, theft, or vandalism.

• Product Liability Insurance: If you sell beauty products or choose a specific line of beauty products to use on your clients, you need product liability coverage. 

• Professional Liability Insurance: Professional liability insurance is absolutely critical for any beautician or stylist to cover expensive claims against you if you make a mistake or face an allegation of negligence from a client.

• Cyber Insurance: If you store your client’s personal or financial information on a laptop, mobile phone, or desktop computer, it’s wise to include cyber liability and cybercrime insurance in your policy to cover data breaches or the fallout of a cyber-attack, like a phishing attack.

How to Get Low-Cost Beauty Insurance to Be Ready for the Holiday Rush

Your clients put their trust in you to provide them with a safe and reliable service that makes them look and feel beautiful. Even if you take every precaution to prevent accidents and mishaps in your salon or mistakes in your services, there is always a risk that something beyond your control could happen unexpectedly.

Get the low-cost, comprehensive beauty insurance you need now from Zensurance to ensure your protection if something goes wrong.

Fill out our online application for a free quote in less than five minutes.

Our team of knowledgeable, experienced brokers will shop our partner network of over 50 insurers to find and customize the coverage you need so you can focus on dazzling your clients throughout the holiday season and beyond.