Even though the most careful employee in the world can take every precaution to not get hurt or to get into an accident and cause some damage, sometimes fate takes over and these kinds of things happen. It’s no different for janitorial cleaning service employees, who are often times placed in unusual situations related to liability. That’s because they must travel to their job location, often work late at night when no one else is around, and have almost complete access onsite to the buildings where they work. They will handle delicate and sensitive materials on a routine basis and use cleaning solutions that can be caustic, or create slip and fall situations.
All of these types of situations can create a real liability headache for a janitorial service. And that can be further worsened if the service does not cover its interests with an appropriate amount of liability insurance. If you are a business seeking to hire a janitorial service, this is one of the first questions you should ask, to make sure your assets are protected and that you have a way to seek compensation in case there is an accident of some sort.
Any janitorial service needs to have a General Liability policy that will take care of the basic insurance needs, but that coverage by itself may not be adequate. It’s best to find out if the company also has Errors & Omissions coverage as well. Errors & Omissions insurance covers a janitorial service owner, their employees and any subcontractors they may use. This is critical when a service needs to bring is specialists for certain kinds of janitorial work.
As a matter of policy, many companies already make it a basic requirement for any contractor doing work with their business to carry Liability and E & O insurance. However, if your business does not have this policy in place, be sure to ask a janitorial service about insurance coverage before entering into any agreement with them.
Blue Chip Building Maintenance has been providing commercial cleaning services in the New York City metro area for 25 years.