Personal Insurance
Business Insurance
Industry
Public liability insurance is usually the first policy a business gets asked for. Landlords, councils, head contractors and event organisers often want a certificate of currency before you start work, and the limit they name, commonly $10 million or $20 million, becomes your minimum. Fortis Risk Solutions compares public liability wording from several insurers, checks the exclusions that matter for your trade and sends the certificate when a client or venue asks for it. Tell us what your business does, where you work and your annual turnover, and we can start from there. Call 03 7046 3766 or send an enquiry.
What Public Liability Insurance Covers
Public liability insurance covers compensation, legal defence costs and related expenses when your business activities injure a third party or damage third-party property.
The policy pays compensation, legal defence costs and related expenses, so you can deal with customers, suppliers, contractors and the public. It is a core section in most business insurance programs.
Shopfront, office, building site or client premises, public liability insurance is fundamental cover for most Australian businesses. On a construction site it usually sits alongside contract works insurance. It sits within our business insurance range at Fortis Risk Solutions. Cafes and bakeries, grocery stores, real estate agencies and manufacturers each carry different liability exposures, so we build industry packages for them.
Public Liability Insurance: Cover Sections and Benefits
What Public Liability Insurance does not cover
Public liability insurance answers injury and property damage you cause to other people. It does not pay your own losses, look after your own workers or stand behind the quality of your work. Typical exclusions:
- Injury to your own employees, which sits with workers compensation and is compulsory for employers
- Damage to property you own, lease or have in your care, unless an extension is arranged
- The cost of redoing faulty work, as opposed to damage that the faulty work caused
- Liability accepted under a contract that goes beyond what the law would impose
- Claims about advice or professional services, which belong on professional indemnity
- Product recall costs, and defects you knew about before the goods went out
- Asbestos, and work above or below the heights and depths stated in the schedule
FRS reads your contracts before placing the policy, since indemnity clauses in head contracts and leases regularly ask for more than a standard wording gives.
How Public Liability Insurance premiums are set
Public liability insurance is rated on how much contact you have with the public and on what happens when something goes wrong. Turnover is the starting point, then the trade sets the rate. Factors:
- Annual turnover, and for trades the split between labour and materials
- Occupation, since roofing, electrical work and hot work sit well above office based activity
- The limit of indemnity required, often set by a landlord, a council or a head contractor
- Where the work happens: your own premises, client sites, or restricted sites such as rail and mines
- Use of subcontractors, and whether they hold their own policies
- Claims history, including incidents reported that were never paid
- Safety systems, site inductions and records of inspections
Liability usually sits inside a business pack, so the rest of the pack affects what an underwriter will do on the rate. FRS quotes it packaged and standalone when the exposure is unusual.
How to claim on Public Liability Insurance
Liability claims are won or lost on what was recorded on the day. A slip in a doorway can arrive as a letter of demand two years later, when nobody remembers the weather or the floor. The FRS process:
- Notify: Call FRS as soon as someone is injured or property is damaged, even if no claim has been made
- Do not admit liability: Do not admit liability or discuss fault, and refer anyone asking about insurance to us
- Photograph the scene: Photograph the scene, the surface, the lighting and any sign or barrier before anything is moved
- Secure witnesses and CCTV: Take witness names and secure CCTV before the recording is overwritten
- Report: Report malicious damage or an assault on your premises to police and keep the report number
- We lodge and manage: Send us every letter and court document unanswered, and FRS lodges the claim and manages the defence to settlement
The reporting steps are on our make a claim page.
Public Liability Insurance compared with Professional Indemnity
| Question | Public liability | Professional indemnity |
|---|---|---|
| What it covers | Injury to other people and damage to their property | Financial loss a client suffers from your advice or professional service |
| Who buys it | Trades, retailers, hospitality, event holders, anyone the public meets | Consultants, designers, accountants, agents and other advisers |
| Typical trigger | A customer falls in your shop, or your work floods the unit next door | A drawing is wrong, a report misses something, a deadline is missed |
| Sits with | Property, motor and workers compensation | Management liability and cyber |
Builders, engineers and consultants who both design and physically work on site need the pair, because one claim can raise both. FRS matches the two limits and the wordings so professional indemnity and the liability policy do not argue over which one responds.
Public Liability Insurance - Client Case Studies
Cases from the Fortis Risk Solutions broking team. Client names have been removed.
Client case: Injury to a Visitor on Site
The client situation: During a renovation project, the property owner visits the construction site to check the progress. While walking through the work area, they trip over unsecured building materials left in a walkway and suffer a fractured wrist.
How the policy responded: The property owner made a claim against the builder, alleging that the site had not been kept reasonably safe. The third party liability section of the builder’s Contract Works policy responded to the claim, covering the builder’s legal defence costs and the compensation they were legally liable to pay for the visitor’s injury, subject to the policy terms, limits and excess.
How Fortis Risk Solutions helps: We make sure the liability limit on a contract works policy matches what the building contract requires, and we handle the claim correspondence so the builder can keep working.
Client case: Customer Trips Over Stock
The client situation: During a busy delivery day, several boxes were temporarily left in an aisle while employees restocked shelves. A customer tripped over one of the boxes and suffered an injury.
The customer alleged that the store had failed to provide a safe environment.How the policy responded: The store’s Public Liability cover could respond to the personal injury claim, including covered defence costs and compensation where the business was legally liable.
How Fortis Risk Solutions helps: We check the public liability limit against what the lease requires, and we take the claim to the insurer as soon as the customer makes contact.
Client case: Customer Injured by Falling Stock
The client situation: A customer was shopping when a large box of products fell from an overhead shelf and struck them, causing an injury. The customer required medical treatment and subsequently made a claim against the grocery store.
How the policy could respond: The store’s Public Liability insurance could respond to the customer’s personal injury claim where the business was legally liable, including covered legal defence costs and compensation, subject to the policy terms and excess.
How Fortis Risk Solutions helps: We arrange public liability at the limit the landlord asks for and manage the claim with the insurer, so the owner is not negotiating with a solicitor alone.
Client case: Customer Slips on a Spill
The client situation: A bottle of cooking oil fell from a shelf and broke, leaving oil across the supermarket aisle. Before the area could be cleaned and secured, a customer slipped and suffered an injury. The customer made a compensation claim against the store.
How the policy could respond: Public Liability cover could respond to the third-party personal injury claim if the grocery store was legally liable, including covered legal defence costs and compensation.
How Fortis Risk Solutions helps: Slip claims can arrive months later. We tell clients what to record on the day, which helps the insurer defend the claim.
Client case: Customer Injured by a Falling Display
The client situation: A bakery had a freestanding display containing packaged bread and pastries. The display unexpectedly fell while a customer was browsing, damaging some of the bakery’s stock and injuring the customer.
The customer subsequently made a claim against the bakery for their injury.How the policy responded: Property cover could respond to insured damage to the bakery’s own contents and stock, depending on the cause and policy wording.
Public Liability cover could respond to the customer’s personal injury claim, including covered legal defence costs and compensation where the bakery was legally liable.How Fortis Risk Solutions helps: An injury claim arrives as a solicitor’s letter. Send it to us before replying and we pass it to the insurer, who takes over the response.
Every policy is different and the outcome of a claim depends on its terms. As your broker, Fortis Risk Solutions compares insurers and policy wording before you buy, and lodges and manages the claim for you when something happens. Talk to us about your own cover.
Local pages: public liability insurance in Blackburn, Dandenong and Bendigo, with the council permits and certificate requests that come up in each area.
Public Liability Insurance FAQs
It is not compulsory by law in most cases, but it is often required by contract. Landlords, councils, principals and event organisers commonly require it. Given the size that third-party injury and property damage claims can reach, most businesses treat public liability insurance as essential.
Public liability covers incidents arising from your business activities, such as a customer slipping in your shop. Products liability covers injury or damage caused by products you make, supply or sell. Both usually sit in one policy. Claims about advice or professional services belong to professional indemnity insurance.
Public liability policies differ in wording, exclusions and claim handling, not only in price. As your broker, FRS helps you:
- Clearly define and disclose your business activities
- Compare insurers beyond the headline premium
- Negotiate cover extensions and exclusions
- Act as your advocate if a claim arises
The wording you buy is what the insurer measures a claim against.
No. Employee injuries are handled by workers' compensation insurance, which is compulsory in Australia. Public liability insurance responds only to claims from third parties. Incidents involving your vehicles sit outside it too, under commercial motor insurance.
A sole trader's public liability policy should start with the limit your clients or venues require, which is often written into the contract. Next, check that the business description matches every activity you do, as claims from undeclared work may not be covered. Products liability is usually packaged in, but confirm it if you sell or install goods. Injuries to employees fall under workers compensation, not this cover. Our team can compare public liability wordings and limits for you.
Related reading
Related pages
Related industry pages: Childcare Centre and Kindergarten Insurance, Service Station and Convenience Store Insurance, Farm Insurance, Events and Entertainment Insurance
Talk to a broker about Public Liability Insurance
Call 03 7046 3766 on weekdays between 9:30am and 6pm, email admin@fortisrisksolutions.com.au, or send an enquiry and a broker from our Box Hill or Hawthorn office will come back to you about public liability insurance. Tell us what the business does and what the lease or contract asks for, and we take it from there.