A career as a beauty professional can be fulfilling and rewarding. Every day, you help bring about the best looks for your clients, boosting their confidence, rejuvenating their skin, and promoting their health and wellness.
Esthetician liability insurance is a vital part of protecting yourself so that you can continue helping your clients achieve their skin health and beauty goals. So what circumstances does esthetician insurance cover? Let’s look at a few common incidents to better understand where an esthetician's insurance might come in handy.
General Liability: Slips and Falls
Your coverage includes protection from universal risks like slips and falls. These incidents can happen in any profession and are not exclusive to beauty and skincare professionals. This type of coverage is often referred to as slip and fall insurance, as these are the most common incidents reported.
Let's take a look at a few circumstances covered by general liability insurance.
Falls
A client is walking in for a steam facial session. On their way to your work area, they trip over a stray towel that was dropped on the floor. As they fall, the client attempts to catch themselves, and the impact breaks their wrist. The injured client requires medical attention, calls an ambulance to take them to the emergency room, and is unable to work during recovery.
In this incident, the injured client could hold you responsible for the cost of their medical expenses and injury-related costs. Your liability insurance could help cover the cost of your client's injuries.
Personal Property Damage
Another aspect of general liability coverage is personal property damage. Drawing from the previous example, let's say the injured client’s expensive cell phone was damaged in their fall. They could include the cost of replacing their cellular device as compensation. General liability insurance could help cover this cost in addition to medical expenses, attorney fees, and other related costs.
General liability helps protect you from the cost of common incidences and circumstances that cause bodily harm, personal property damage, or physical distress. These incidences could be the result of a lack of care, proper signage, or poorly maintained facilities.
Professional Liability: Errors and Omissions
Professional liabilities are specific to your occupation as an esthetician. This type of coverage is often called errors and omissions insurance because it relates to occupation-specific mistakes that lead to bodily harm or distress. For skin care professionals, these injuries could be a wide variety of burns, cuts, punctures, and other physical injuries.
Here are a few examples that your esthetician’s insurance policy could cover:
Bodily Injuries
Skincare professionals treat their clients with a wide range of treatments and skin health instruments, often in intimate or sensitive body areas. Although professional estheticians would never intentionally hurt their clients, mistakes and errors can happen, resulting in bodily harm.
Here are some of the typical bodily injuries that could occur while receiving an esthetician service:
- Burns
- Cuts
- Skin punctures
- Eye injuries
- Infections
- Skin irritation
- Abrasions/scrapes
Even if you're careful, any of these injuries could happen before you know it. That’s why liability coverage for estheticians is so important. Liability coverage can help protect you from the cost of a liability lawsuit because of injuries like these and more.
Incorrect or Improper Treatment
One aspect of professional liability coverage you may not consider is incorrect treatments. If you mistakenly treat a client using the incorrect ingredients or the wrong treatment, it could seriously hurt or harm them. If your client is injured due to your mistake, they could hold you liable for the cost of their medical expenses, legal fees, time away from work, etc.
Professional liability insurance could protect you from paying your client’s compensation due to incorrect treatment.
Unsanitary Treatments
Maintenance of a sanitary environment is essential for safe operation and client health. Failing to maintain a clean and hygienic area or equipment could lead to some nasty infections, irritations, or even illnesses. Estheticians often work with sensitive or intimate skin areas. Sanitation measures must be taken and strictly enforced to protect your clients. However, failing to maintain a clean work environment could lead to a liability lawsuit.
Professional liability insurance for estheticians could help cover the cost of a lawsuit due to unsanitary conditions or treatments.
Product Liability: Allergic Reactions and Irritations
Product liability coverage is an essential part of a comprehensive esthetician liability insurance plan. Because skincare professionals use a wide range of products in their daily treatments, this coverage is all the more necessary.
For example, you're working with a client using a skin-tightening serum as a treatment. Unbeknownst to your client, they are allergic to one of the ingredients within the serum and begin to break out in irritating hives. The allergic reaction is both painful and unsightly, causing your client pain and distress.
In this example, you could be held liable for the cost of their treatments and recovery. Product liability insurance could help cover the cost of a lawsuit like this situation.
Adverse Allergic Reactions
Allergic reactions to skin care products could lead to some severe health consequences. Even if the client is unaware of their aversion, they could hold you liable if a product you use causes an allergic reaction. Of course, as a skincare professional, you use a lot of products every day. If something goes wrong with a mask, cream, or skin solution, it could leave you in a vulnerable position.
Product liability coverage could help cover the cost of a client's allergic reaction to a product you use.
Skin Irritations
Skin irritations are one of the most common claims estheticians face in their careers. Because skincare professionals use a wide variety of products, chemical agents, and beauty solutions, there is always the risk of adverse skin reactions. While this may not be an allergic reaction, it could be an irritating ingredient.
For example, let's say you are working with a client on a facial chemical peel. Because of the naturally aggravating ingredients within a chemical treatment, it causes an abnormal burning sensation on the client’s face. This causes your client to experience painful skin irritation, requiring further treatments.
In a situation like this, product liability insurance could help cover the cost of the client's medical expenses and related fees.
Identity Theft Protection
As a modern skincare professional, your online presence is both an asset and a potential liability. You likely use social media, websites, and other platforms to advertise and communicate with your clients. While an online social presence can be a great tool for interacting with new customers and promoting your career, it can also have some unexpected negative consequences.
A stolen identity can be difficult for anyone, but for professionals, it compromises more than just your personal assets. If an online predator steals your identity, they could have access to your client's information, business profiles, bank accounts, etc. This could leave you vulnerable and result in significant financial loss.
Your Beauty Insurance + policy includes protection against identity theft to help you recover after a stolen identity. Our coverage helps protect you from every liability threat to your career.
Get Esthetician Liability Insurance Today!
If you're looking for reliable esthetician insurance that includes the total package, Beauty Insurance + has you covered. Your policy includes comprehensive coverage to protect you and your career from every angle. A Beauty Insurance + esthetician liability insurance policy gives you the peace of mind and protection to be confident in your coverage.
Our online system makes getting the insurance you need easy and convenient. Within minutes, you register and have access to your complete benefits package. Why wait to have total liability protection; get esthetician liability insurance today.