What if a fire caused your metal fabrication business to temporarily shut down? What would you do next? Best case scenario: you would move to a temporary location, but traditional property insurance doesn’t cover this move or loss of income. According to a recent survey, Canadian respondents ranked business interruption as the leading cause of losses for companies. Business interruption coverage for metal fabrication starts where property damage insurance ends.

Basics of Business Interruption Coverage

Most standard business insurance policies only cover loss or damage to tangible items – your equipment, inventory and your physical space, like warehouse or shop. It does not cover lost profits when your business can no longer operate. By definition business interruption insurance is intended to compensate the insured for the income lost during the period of restoration or the time necessary to repair or restore the physical damage to the covered property.

There are many different causes of business interruption, coverage provides valuable protection to your business from lost income resulting from unpredictable disruptions such as:

• Power outages;
• Fire or natural disaster;
• Damaged business location due to a disaster;
• Extra expenses involved in establishing a temporary location.

Typically business interruption insurance coverage includes the following:

• Compensation for lost income if the metal shop has to vacate its premises as a result of disaster-related damage covered under a property insurance policy;
• Covers the profits that would have been earned based on previous financial records, had the disaster not occurred;
• Covers operating expenses, such as utilities, that must be paid even though the business temporarily shut down;
• Covers expenses of operating in a temporary location while repairs to the permanent location are completed.

Business interruption insurance must be added to a property insurance policy and policy limits should be sufficient enough to cover a large amount of time to rebuild the permanent business space. Insurance experts estimate that business interruption insurance is one of the most, if not the most, valuable coverage available, yet it is often overlooked. Don’t wait for a disaster to strike, an experienced broker will help you navigate the right type of business interruption coverage in the case of an unlucky circumstance.

Brokers with Experience in the Manufacturing Industry

As a metal fabrication operation, it is very important to have a comprehensive commercial insurance policy in place that includes business interruption coverage. Not only will this provide peace of mind, it will help keep your company running the case of any unexpected disruption.

A broker like Regional Insurance gets to know you, your needs and only succeeds when a plan is put in place that’s right for you. They are there to advise you on risk management at the outset and are also there to assist and advocate for you if you have to file a claim. Regardless of the size of your metal fabrication shop, Regional Insurance helps to customize an insurance solution that includes business interruption so that you are fully covered for any type of situation.