Workplace Violence Concerns

With many protests involving movements such as Black Lives Matter and Metoo, there is a concern that protests involving them will turn violent. As a result, many companies are scared that an incident like a shooting might disrupt their business.

As it is, these types of workplace incidents are alarmingly becoming more common. Many of the mass shooting incidents, such as Pulse, the Aurora Theater and the Las Vegas concert shooting have occurred in and around private businesses, forcing them to shut down and in some cases close permanently.

With the recent rise of COVID and the sudden transition to deliveries for food and services its become important to protect drivers not just from the virus but also from a potential assailant that would be on their routes. Many insurance carriers have begun to offer this coverage as more of these incidents appear in the media. Lloyds of London has a standard coverage for these incidents, and they include the following:

• Coverage for business interruptions which can be caused by having the incident happening nearby and forcing your business to shut down for unknown time.
• Bodily Injury: Said incidents could be by external or internal factors such as an upset employee. In the event of an injury to an employee on your property caused by this, this coverage can cover claims cause by the incident.
• Property Damage: In the event of a shooting, an attack or god forbid an explosion, this coverage will pay for repairs. This includes temporary structures, furniture replacement and other damages caused by the incident. For delivery drivers, this could extend to their cars if they aren’t owned by the company.
• Response expenses: These types of incidents can lead to long lasting damage from a psychological and commercial perspective. An incident like this in and near your business would hurt your credibility as a safe business. This coverage would cover clean up, counselling, funeral expense in case these incidents are fatal and temporary staff to help bring your company back online.[1]

Violence in an around your business is a legitimate fear. If it happens, you should be covered in case of serious damage. Consult your provider about your needs.

[1] PLUS Workplace violence brochure