Public Liability Insurance for Gardeners

What Insurance Do I Need as a Gardeners?*

Some of the major types of business insurance covers available to gardeners in Australia are explained below and include:

• Public Liability Insurance
• Business Insurance Pack
• Personal Accident Insurance
• General Property and Tools
• Commercial Motor insurance
• Plant and Equipment Insurance

Why do Gardeners need public liability insurance?*

Public Liability Insurance coverage is essential for all self-employed gardeners.

Gardeners need public liability insurance as gardeners face many risks including a client or passerby accidently falling into the ditch you just dug, a wall may collapse, or you could break a window while working.

Or a gardener could spray chemicals on a client’s garden , and the chemicals spread to a neighbour’s property , damaging the neighbours’ plants and grass. Since the neighbour holds you responsible, you may be facing a claim for damages and legal costs.

People and property on site may be hurt or damaged due to accidents involving gardening work.

Protections offered to self-employed gardeners by public liability insurance in Australia generally include:

• Injury to other persons due to your gardening activities –Where a gardening business activity causes harm to a third-party person. For example, a client ignores your warnings to stay inside while you are gardening and injure themselves when they trip and fall on your equipment or branches from a tree you have just pruned.
• Damage to others property due to your gardening activities – Where a gardening business activity causes damages to a third- party’s property. For example, a gardener may accidently cause damage in a client’s or neighbours garden, fence, vehicle or house while performing work.
• Harm to other persons or other persons property due to your gardening business’s products – Where a gardener business’s products and goods supplied causes harm to a third party -person or a third- party’s property. For example, products a gardener has supplied, repaired, or manufactured cause harm, injure someone or cause property damage.

Public liability insurance coverage may protect gardeners from claims that arise when others allege, they are negligent.

A gardener’s public liability policy may provide a defence against the ensuing lawsuit when needed and may pay the damages sought by the injured party.

Business insurance pack for gardeners*

Gardeners may be able to combine multiple covers in a single business insurance pack policy.

By ‘packaging’ your business insurance into a ‘business pack’ gardeners can potentially cover many of the risks their business faces in the one policy.

For example, if a gardener has a commercial premises, a business insurance pack may provide cover for buildings and contents if they are accidentally damaged by a defined event, such as fire, storm, impact damage, accidental damage, vandalism, or malicious damage.

Other typical inclusions for gardeners with a business insurance pack are Public Liability Insurance and Product Liability Insurance.

Optional inclusions for gardeners with a business insurance pack are General Property, Contents, Machinery, Plant and Stock, Glass, Money , Business Interruption and Marine Cover.

Personal Accident Insurance for self-employed gardeners *

As a self-employed gardener your personal safety is your livelihood.

Personal accident insurance for gardeners may provide cover for 52 or 104 weeks and up to 85%* of weekly income at the time of the injury; depending on the amount of coverage agreed when the policy is taken out.

Time away from work from an accident will have a direct impact on a self-employed gardener’s income, and a long period away can negatively affect their savings, family, and lifestyle.

Personal Accident Insurance may help self-employed gardeners pay for essential bills and other financial commitments if they have an accident.

General Property and Tools Insurance for gardeners *

As a gardener, you are likely to have many tools and equipment that allow you to do your job, such as lawn mowers, hedge trimmers , blowers, wheelbarrows,  pressure sprayers , edge trimmers , spades, shears and rakes to name a few.

If your property is damaged or stolen, your business cannot operate effectively.

General property insurance can help you keep operating effectively.

It can provide needed funds to replace your tools such as lawn mowers, hedge trimmers , blowers, wheelbarrows,  pressure sprayers , edge trimmers , spades, shears and rakes  ….and help keep you in business.

Commercial motor insurance for self-employed gardeners *

Commercial motor insurance should be considered for gardeners that drive their vehicle from site to site. Light trucks, vans and Utes may be covered.

Plant & Equipment Insurance for gardening businesses*

Plant & Equipment Insurance may provide cover for owners of small gardening businesses that operate equipment such as commercial grade gardening trailers, rotary hoes , ride on mowers , weed sprayers,  mulchers, stump grinders and forklifts.

Cover may provide gardeners with protection for theft, damage, consequential loss, liability, road risk and machinery breakdown.