Beauticians need liability insurance due to the risky nature of the job. As a beautician, your job involves carrying out treatments on the face and body which can go wrong. And the products used have the potential to cause injury to your clients or even damage to their property.

Plus, an accidental injury or personal property damage may occur to a third party, for which your business is blamed. Even if you don’t have official premises because you work in your client’s homes, you may still be liable to pay for such an incident if it was found you were at fault.

If you own a beauty salon or are a self-employed beautician, then you should consider taking out insurance to cover such eventualities. Beauty therapist insurance relates to any liability insurance type that specifically covers the presence of a beauty therapist carrying out a treatment, using products or giving advice.

The term ‘liability’ within insurance means that the cost of compensation will be covered by your provider, along with your legal fees. There are several types of liability insurance you can take out as a beautician.

Beauty Public Liability Insurance    

Beauty public liability covers accidents that result in personal injury or property damage to third parties. Working with the general public in any capacity makes it more likely for an accident to occur, not least when you add beauty products and treatments into the mix. As the name suggests, public liability means the general public and not just your clients specifically.

After all, someone could have an accident in your waiting area, or you could cause damage to a client’s home if you’re a mobile beautician.

The best way to think of public liability insurance as a beautician is that it will cover you for any type of employment activity, where the general public has access to your products or services. This includes everything from setting up to the actual treatments to take-home products you sell, and more.

Scenario: A client falls off a treatment bed and breaks their ankle. They claim the treatment bed was unstable and you were negligent in providing it.

Beauty Treatment Insurance    

Without treatments, beauticians wouldn’t have a business. Everything from an eyebrow tint to a facial is classed as a beauty treatment, with hundreds of different treatments you may perform depending on your training.

Depending on your insurer, they may offer general treatment insurance across the hair and beauty industry. But if you carry out more high-risk treatments such as microblading or dermaplaning, then you’ll have to make sure your insurance specifically covers these types of treatments.

Scenario: You carry out a lash lift and the product gets into your client’s eyes, causing a nasty reaction. They have to take time off work and are left with lasting damage to their vision.

Beauty Product Liability    

Beauty products include those you use in the presence of your client and those which you may sell as take-home products.

Beauty product liability insurance covers you in case the products you use injures a client or damages their property. Some insurers will cover various business types for product liability, though some may specialise directly in beauty product liability. The main thing to look out for is that the type of work you do will be covered since all beauticians need products to be able to do their job.

Even if the product you used was created by your supplier if an incident occurs your client could attempt to blame you. Hence, beauticians require liability insurance for their business protection.

Scenario: You use a well-known brand of chemical peel on your client and it causes an extreme reaction (beyond what was expected) and lasting sensitivity.

Beauty Insurance Quotes 

When searching for beauty therapist insurance quotes, you have a lot of options at your disposal.

A popular method is to check out comparison websites. With a comparison website, you need to make sure the website gives you the option to fill out specific details about your business operation, especially if you carry out any high-risk treatments.

Also, comparison websites tend to highlight the cheapest result first which may not always offer the best level of cover for your needs. So, you’ll still need to go over the finer details before you go ahead. For example, what is the excess? Are there any add-ons you can select to customise your policy? Avoid jumping at any ‘one-size-fits-all’ insurance types without a proper look, as these may not over the right level of cover for your business.

Insurance brokers work as a middleman, as they’ll find you an insurance quote based on the information you supply them. They’ll either charge an upfront fee for this service or get a commission for the insurer. Ideally, they shouldn’t be tied to any particular insurer so that the service is fair.

Finally, you can also go directly to an insurer instead. The one downside is this makes it more difficult as well as time consuming to compare quotes against other insurers. Though, if you have an existing policy with the insurer you may be eligible for discounts with them.

To Sum Up

Getting insurance for your beauty business isn’t compulsory unless you employ others. However, it’s still highly recommended since such policies usually only cost a few pounds a month, yet offer potentially millions of pounds worth of cover. Ultimately, you cannot put a price on protecting your business, especially if you want it to continue without the threat of legal action being able to ruin it.