Floor Waxing Increases Risk For Janitorial Firms

If you’re a janitorial firm working in retail stores or commercial buildings, chances are that floor waxing is a major part of your operations.  And chances are that you assume that your general liability policy covers you for those operations.  A precaution: take a second look.  Many general liability policies written for janitorial contractors exclude or limit coverage for floor waxing operations.

 

Insurance companies do a good job of hiding exclusions in their policies.  Often the contractor finds out the hard way when a claim is not going to be covered.  Floor waxing exclusions can be written into a policy in a couple of ways.  The first of which is a Designated Work Exclusion.  Very simply, this excludes specific operations from coverage.  The second way, a Class Specific Limitation, is a little sneakier.  Class Specific Limitations restrict coverage to operations defined in the Class Code under which the policy was written.  Often these class code definitions are written by the insurance companies and can limit where you work and what kind of work you can do. 

So why is floor waxing so bad?  Wax is slippery.  Slip and fall accidents are one of the most common type of bodily injury claims in the United States.  Losses can range from $500 to $500,000.  If you are a janitorial contractor doing floor waxing, you need to know that your business is protected.  The experts at Orr & Associates can evaluate your general liability policy and check for endorsements that you should know about, including Class Specific Limitations and Designated Work Exclusions.  We offer policies that cover floor waxing, house cleaning, window washing and many other operations that are often excluded in general liability policies.  For more information contact Tarah Gruber at 619-487-0376 or Tarah@redhotinsurance.net.  Or visit www.redhotinsurance.net.