Starting a cleaning business is a great idea.

The demand is high, the start-up costs low and you can make good money when providing a range of high-quality services.

All you need to do is choose your business structure, register your company, identify the services you want to offer and the locations you want to cover, and start advertising. With the right business strategy, you’ll be delivering your cleaning services to the community in no time.

Yet, there’s one more critical thing you need to consider when starting a cleaning business: the business risks associated with the nature of your activity.

And to help you mitigate these risks, we’ve shared below three common cleaning business insurance claims companies like yours face and how to avoid them.

Common Cleaning Business Insurance Claims

Slips And Falls

Did you know that there are over 27,800 claims caused by slips, trips, and falls every year in Australia?

Often the result of an accident, these falls can lead to serious injuries and even death in some cases. Now, as the owner of a cleaning company you’re particularly exposed to this risk.

After all, your job entails using power cords to vacuum, moping floors leaving them wet, and using buckets filled with water which all constitute a slip, trip, and fall hazard.

Here are a few tips to minimise this risk:

• Clean up spills immediately
• Put up signage to warn people about wet areas
• Secure power cords
• Put each piece of equipment away as soon as you’re finished and never leave brooms, vacuums or other cleaning tools lying around

Property Damage

When you or your staff enter a client’s premises to clean, you expose yourself to the risk of property damage. In fact, this is one of the most common cleaning business claims.

For instance, using the wrong cleaning solution on an item or piece of furniture can damage the item and as a cleaning business, you can be liable. And even if you’re using the right solution, mis-dosing it or inadvertently spilling it on another piece of furniture can have the same consequences.

Also you could inadvertently break a fragile item as you’re dusting it. After all, accidents happen and you’re only human.

Here are some tips to reduce the risk of property damage:

• Identify risks on your client’s property and train your staff on how to clean specific items and use specific equipment.
• Ask your clients to safely stow away rare, fragile, or extremely valuable items before your team comes.

Lost Keys

If you work with certain clients regularly, chances are they’ll provide you with a set of keys so you can easily enter and exit the premises even if they aren’t there. And if you or your staff loses them, you’ll most likely have to change the locks which could prove extremely costly especially if you’re working with commercial customers. If you lose the master key to the whole venue, the cost could be in the tens of thousands, sometimes more.

Here are some tips on preventing the loss of keys:

• Appoint a supervisor in charge of distributing the keys to your staff before their shift and collecting them after. If you only have a few employees, the supervisor could be you.
• Keep a set of master keys secure in a lock box for each client
• Draft and share a key log spreadsheet listing account name, employees responsible for the account, the date and time keys were collected and date and time they were given back. This will help hold your employees accountable.

Protect Your Business Against Claims With Business Insurance For Cleaners

While implementing risk mitigation strategies is important, having business insurance can make the difference between going bankrupt and running a thriving business. 

How so? 

Because some insurance policies such as public liability insurance are specifically designed to protect businesses like yours from claims and ensure that your financial assets are safeguarded.

To find the best insurance for your needs, use our instant quote generator, where you can get an estimate on market-leading insurance in seconds. 

Simply enter your occupation and expected revenue to get started.