What insurance does a beauty salon need?

As a beauty salon owner, it’s your job to give your clients that ‘just stepped out of the salon’ look. Whether they’ve simply dropped in for acrylics or had the full works from top to toe, you’ll want them to walk out the door looking and feeling a million dollars.

But what happens if an appointment leaves a client looking less salon-sleek and more like they’ve just stepped out of a hedge – backwards? Worse, what if they’ve suffered a physical injury from a treatment or reacted badly to a product?

It’s at times like these that your beauty salon insurance steps up to the plate. Because no matter how finely honed your beauty skills, things can and will go wrong from time to time. If you employ other beauticians, there’s even more chance of that happening.

Beauty insurance offers a helping hand when things get ugly. It protects not only you, but your salon and the people who work there too. Having it gives you the peace of mind to enjoy running your business without fear of crippling compensation claims or business grinding to a halt.

But what insurance does a beauty salon need, exactly? Next up, a run-down of the best cover for salons and how it helps.

What types of beauty salon insurance do you need?

Treatment and professional liability insurance

Treatments are the lifeblood of your business. However, a slip-up during a procedure or your client’s unexpected allergic reaction to a product can spell as much trouble for you as for them.

Any hint of pain, trauma or physical damage can easily provoke a claim for compensation. That’s when expenses start racking up. Because lawyers don’t come cheap and you’ll need one to defend you – whether you think the claim has legs or not.

Add to that people’s willingness to claim in today’s no-win no-fee, compensation-hungry culture and you’ve got a recipe for financial ruin. Compensation awards can be eye-wateringly high in some cases. Plus, you’ll have to pay out of your own pocket.

Treatment and professional liability cover takes the sting out of claims like these. It’s an essential part of your beauty salon insurance and covers you and the other beauticians you employ. It pays for legal experts to represent your interests and covers any damages you owe.

Public liability insurance

Clumsy clients. Who needs them? Or clumsy staff for that matter. Not only are they prone to being involved in accidents. They can also cost you money if the accident happens on your premises and someone or something gets hurt.

Say you’re setting up for a treatment that relies on electrical equipment. Only you’re feeling rushed and leave a plug-in lead trailing over the floor. A client trips over it, falls, and knocks out her teeth, requiring lots of expensive dentistry work.

Who do you think will be asked to foot the bill? Similarly, if something as simple as a small puddle of solution on the floor means someone slips and falls heavily. Or an employee delivering coffee to a client slops it over their smartphone by mistake.

Public liability insurance helps rescue situations like these. It covers all your legal costs and picks up the bill for any compensation payments. Crisis averted.

Salon insurance

Your salon is the face of your business and a symbol of how hard you’ve worked. It’s not only filled with all the specialist equipment you use as the tools of your trade, but a statement of who you are and what you stand for.
So, you need to protect it.

Because if your salon or your equipment is out of action, you can’t work. That means you can’t keep appointments or generate any income. It also means disappointed clients may drift off elsewhere.

Perhaps an overnight leak ruins all your specialist kit and wipes out your PC. Or a burglary leaves you with next to nothing. Salon insurance pays to repair or replace any damaged, lost, or stolen equipment. It covers the hire of temporary replacements too.

If you also visit clients at home, you’ll need portable equipment insurance. It works in the same way as salon insurance but covers the kit you take out and about with you, including mobile phones and laptops.

Employers’ liability insurance

If you’ve got staff working at your beauty salon, you’ll know that you need to protect them with employers’ liability insurance (EL). Or at least you should. Because employers who don’t have it are breaking the law.

The Health & Safety Executive says all businesses need to safeguard their employees with EL in case of workplace accidents and illnesses. If they catch you without it, they can fine you £2,500 for each day you were meant to have it but didn’t.

Don’t forget also to display your EL certificate in a prominent place in your salon. That’s another legal requirement and you risk a £1,000 fine for not getting it right.

What other types of beauty salon insurance might you need?

Cyber insurance

Gone are the days of appointments scribbled in oversize paper diaries. It’s all about digital now, from booking systems, to taking payments and storing client data.

That makes it more of a problem if your tech isn’t working. If your website’s down, so is your main shop window. If your booking system fails, you have no idea who’s coming in for what. And if you can’t access your clients’ data, you can’t check their essential info.

All that can happen if hackers target your business and either hold your data to ransom or steal customers’ personal info. It brings trading to a halt and can put you in trouble with the data regulator.

Cyber insurance helps by providing the technical expertise to deal with a cyber-attack and by covering your lost income. If there’s been a data breach, it pays to contact the people affected, and covers claims against you for exposing their sensitive information.

Business interruption insurance

Not being able to open your salon for business as usual can send your income into freefall. Unexpected trouble in the shape of a fire, flood, or other event that stops you accessing your premises can be a disaster in more ways than one.

Business interruption insurance steps into the breach when things take an unanticipated turn for the worse. It pays for you to set your business up elsewhere in the meantime and also covers any lost income.

How much beauty salon insurance you plump for is entirely up to you, of course. You know your business better than we do.

You could opt to cover only the bare essentials. But buying more cover means your business will be better protected. It’ll help you sleep better at night and keep the worry lines at bay.

If you’re looking for beauty salon insurance quotes, click here. Or call the team on 0345 222 5391.

Image used under license from Shutterstock.