Most homeowners need some kind of landscaping services, whether it's weed-eating, mowing, or tree-trimming. Weeds and other intrusive plants can grow exceptionally tall in a short period of time, and this becomes overwhelming on a large property. Trees can also become problematic when branches keep getting bushier when left untrimmed.
Most landscaping tasks seem harmless, but trimming trees is a dangerous job. For instance, injuries caused by falling limbs are fairly common and sometimes result in death.
Every landscaping business should carry liability insurance, but if you offer tree services, you need it more urgently. Here's why not having insurance is a bad idea.
1. You might get sued by a customer
Tree-trimming services pose a hazard to both your employees and customers. If a customer is injured by a falling limb, for example, they have every right to sue your company to pay for their medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
Having insurance means not paying out of pocket for their compensation. General liability insurance covers premises liability, which covers injuries to customers. Having insurance also means avoiding a lawsuit, provided the injured party doesn't try to file a lawsuit without going through insurance first.
Compensation for medical bills and lost wages awarded in a lawsuit can be extensive, depending on the injury, required care, and the person's normal salary. Don't risk getting sued directly – make sure you have liability insurance for your company. You never know when a customer will get hurt. One way to protect yourself is to a establish a limited company. Check out Money Brighter to learn how to get an llc in 6 simpler steps.
2. Freak accidents do happen
Insurance will cover predictable accidents, but it will also cover freak accidents. Unfortunately, freak accidents do happen. For example, in 2021, a man in Sydney, Australia was trimming a hedge with a power tool when he fell three meters, landed on top of his chainsaw, and later died at the hospital.
This particular incident didn't involve a landscaping employee, but this type of freak accident could happen to anyone. Hopefully, your employees take the right precautions to avoid situations like this, but you never know. People are injured by taking shortcuts all the time.
3. You're financially responsible for employee mistakes
When employees make mistakes on the job, you're responsible for the consequences, whether those mistakes cause injury or property damage. For example, if an employee trims a tree and a limb falls onto a car, crushing the top, you'll be held responsible.
Insurance will even cover stupid mistakes employees make when they don't follow company safety rules. You'd be surprised at the shortcuts people take just to trim a tree. For instance, one guy climbed to the top of a 100-foot palm tree, cut off all the leaves, and had to cling tightly to the swaying trunk when the tree rebounded after dropping the weight.
4. Trees come dangerously close to powerlines
Trimming trees often requires climbing up the tree or a tall ladder to trim branches that can't be reached from the ground. Most tree-trimmers use power tools, which gets the job done faster, but also presents the life-threatening hazard of electrocution from hitting a powerline.
Most people don't survive electrocution. Some people get extremely lucky, like a Florida man who was zapped with 14,000 volts while cutting hedges. His skin literally melted to his bones and his body is full of scars from the experience, but he miraculously survived.
5. It's easy to misjudge while tree-trimming
When trimming trees, it's easy to misjudge the direction a limb will fall in, or how quickly it will fall. If all safety precautions are taken, this isn't usually a problem. For example, the entire area surrounding a tree should be roped off properly to prevent bystanders, customers, and other employees from walking underneath.
However, when employees cut corners thinking they can judge where, when, and how a limb will fall, a limb could fall on someone as they walk by. Tree limbs aren't light, no matter how thin they look from the ground, and limbs have enough power to knock someone out and/or kill them.
Even professional tree fellers aren't correct 100% of the time about how a tree will fall. There are specific techniques they use to notch the trees to get them to fall in a specific direction, but sometimes things go wrong.
Don't skip tree-trimming insurance
One lawsuit or one injury could put you out of business. The risk is too great. Don't skip tree-trimming insurance. If you don't already have a general liability policy that will cover your tree trimmers, customers, and bystanders, get a policy as quickly as possible.