But have you ever stopped and thought about the amount of liability involved in hiring these services?
As a facilities manager, you are in charge of many high-liability areas, more than the average manager. It is highly important that the services you hire, such as janitorial services, have insurance.
What exactly is commercial cleaning insurance or janitorial insurance, and why is it important? That’s exactly what we will cover for you in today’s post. Read on to learn more about commercial cleaning insurance and bonding, and why you should never hire a company that isn’t insured and bonded.
Technically, janitorial insurance or commercial cleaning insurance is an umbrella term for a handful of different insurance policies that a legitimate cleaning company will carry. These policies include:
General Liability Insurance: This policy will cover the commercial cleaning or janitorial company for most of the potential accidents that may occur while the cleaning staff is operating in your building.
This includes (but isn’t limited to) damage to your property. For instance, if a cleaning chemical spills and damages a surface, or if a staff member from the janitorial service accidentally cracks a mirror or breaks something, it’s covered.
It also includes injuries to third parties. For instance, if someone in your building slips on a wet floor due to recent cleaning, or trips over cleaning equipment left in a hallway, their medical bills will be covered.
Workers’ Compensation Insurance: Also referred to as workers’ comp, this type of insurance policy covers the commercial cleaning service’s employees.
If one of the cleaning-service staff members are injured while on the job in your building, their medical bills due to the injury will be covered. For instance, if a janitorial-service worker injures themselves while working with a floor buffer that gets away from them, their medical bills will be covered. Any property damage due to the accident would be covered by their general liability coverage.
Commercial Auto Insurance: Much like the auto insurance for your car, commercial auto insurance covers injuries and property damage as a result of auto accidents involving a commercial vehicle. So, if a commercial cleaning company vehicle gets into an accident, even as they are on the way to your location, they will be covered.
Janitorial Bonding Insurance: This is a type of insurance that keeps you, as the client, protected in the event of theft. Even those companies with the most thorough background-checking processes should have binding insurance, just in case.
Bonds also can fill in gaps in coverage where other types of insurance may leave off, covering full replacements of expensive electronics, art works, and other higher-value items if they are destroyed or go missing.
Let’s talk absolute worst case scenarios, here.
In a nutshell, if you hire a janitorial service or professional cleaning company that is not insured or bonded, your company could be out a lot (and we do mean a lot) of money.
For instance, a member of the cleaning staff is on a ladder, cleaning light fixtures in an entryway, when he leans just the wrong way, causing him to come crashing down to the floor. He is injured badly, resulting in a permanent disability that renders him unable to do his job.
In most cases, he would not be eligible for state disability benefits, and his resulting medical bills, rehabilitation-service bills, and possibly even loss of income would be the responsibility of your company, since he fell on your building’s property.
Another example: You hire an uninsured, commercial cleaning or janitorial service who comes in to clean the building top to bottom. The cleaning staff uses the wrong cleaning product to clean the flooring, resulting in permanent damage that will require either replacement or extensive and expensive refinishing work. Guess who will be responsible for these damages?
What about this: You fail to check to see if the janitorial service you selected was bonded, and suddenly complaints are rolling in on a regular basis about missing items—laptops, digital cameras, building staff members’ personal items like wallets, even projectors from conference rooms.
One more: the janitorial service has been paid for the upcoming month of service on your building, but after one visit they disappear, stop returning calls and you never hear from them again.
A reputable janitorial or commercial cleaning company will carry liability insurance and workers’ compensation insurance and will have a bond in place.
These reputable companies, like Cleaning Services Group, will not only be more likely to perform thorough background checks and fully train staff members but also offer the peace of mind that if anything happens while their employees are doing their jobs on your site, it will be covered.
A commercial cleaning or janitorial service that is bonded and insured will protect your company from the financial hardship of paying for a lifetime of medical and rehabilitation bills if their cleaning staff were to severely injure themselves while performing work at your building.
A commercial cleaning company with janitorial insurance and bonding will protect your company from having to pay to replace something that has been accidentally damaged or destroyed by their employees.
A commercial cleaning or janitorial service that is bonded and insured will be more likely to perform work as specified, fulfill their contracts and be financially responsible if an employee steals. In fact, companies that are not financially stable or cannot prove stability will not be able to receive a bond.
Looking to hire a national commercial cleaning or janitorial service? Discover the CSG difference. CSG is not only licensed, bonded and insured but also uses a proprietary management software that ensures a high-quality experience.
Request a quote for services today!