This past year, the Ohio landscaping industry laws have changed that influence the kind of landscape insurance you must carry if you’re a pesticide business operating in the state. These new guidelines, as introduced by the Ohio Department of Agriculture, make it so that your current business insurance most likely does not comply with the new laws. In other words, if you’re a landscaper or have a pesticide license, you will have to change your insurance policy.
Now your policy must include coverage of “the properties under the care, custody, and control of the pesticide application business as it relates to the application of pesticides, including but not limited to the damage to the actual properties the pesticide business is treating or working on…” To learn more about what this means for your business, read the article below that gives you a more detailed analysis.
» Ohio Landscapers: how new ODA guidelines have a major impact on your insurance
Who Needs Landscaping Insurance?
Landscaping insurance may include general liability insurance, commercial auto insurance, contractors equipment insurance, and/or employer’s liability coverage. Accidents that cause property damage or personal injury may result in lawsuits that you want to protect yourself against. The types of businesses that need this kind of insurance include:
- Landscape designers
- Arborists
- Tree trimmers
- Lawn irrigation contractors
- General landscapers
- Landscape architects
Currently, only a handful of insurance companies in Ohio offer this kind of coverage. The required amount of liability coverage you need for property in your care, custody, or control is $300,000.
Who can cover my business under the new laws?
Where it starts to become tricky with the new Ohio landscape insurance laws is that general liability policies will no longer cover you properly. Getting coverage that will allow you to make claims on damage done to the properties you are working on is not easy. The coverage you need is basically a warranty on your work that would cover you if you make a mistake on a client’s property or project such as putting the wrong fertilizer on a lawn that ended up causing a lot of damage.
Currently, only a handful of insurance companies in Ohio offer this kind of coverage. The required amount of liability coverage you need for property in your care, custody, or control is $300,000. In order to figure out how you can change your current coverage to ensure you comply with the new guidelines, we highly recommend that you speak with an independent insurance agent who can guide you through the process and get you the right coverage.
Consequences of not having landscape insurance
What will happen, you may ask, if I don’t adhere to the new guidelines? The answer is that it could ended up being very costly to your business, or even shut you down all together. Here are the three things that could happen:
- If you’re found to be non-compliant with the new liability guidelines, your license is immediately suspended.
- If you find yourself needing to make a claim, only to find out that you didn’t have the coverage you needed, your license is immediately suspended.
- Even if your insurance agent provided you with a Certificate of Insurance showing that you had the coverage, when in fact you didn’t, your license would still be suspended.
This is a challenging new insurance situation for many small businesses in Ohio and we want to make it easy for you to get the right coverage. But we also realize that what each landscaping company needs to do to come into compliance is a little bit different. To get started on your customized solution, contact one of our licensed independent advisors and we will get to work right away!