Security Guard Company Insurance
What is Security Guard Insurance?
Security guard companies have special needs when it comes to insurance. Those companies have to deal with a variety of situations that the average company does not. Here are some things to think about when trying to figure out the right security guard company insurance.
Armed versus Unarmed
One of the big concerns for most insurance companies is whether your security guard company provides firearms for your employees. Obviously, an armed guard creates a lot more risk than an unarmed guard. Along with just this simple fact are the training and procedures that each security guard has to follow.
In addition, one of the big keys here is how the insurance is actually underwritten.
Payroll versus Billable Hours
Certain insurance companies base their premiums on payroll. This is a big mistake and you should make sure that any company that you deal with bases the premium on billable hours. The reason behind this is that it doesn’t penalize you for having a higher paid, better trained security guard force.
This is doubly true for companies that have armed security guards. Armed guards are almost always better when they are more highly compensated. The extra compensation is a reward for more experience and better training, such as when a company hires a former police officer.
General and Professional Liability Insurance
Another thing to check on is that your insurance carrier write BOTH general and professional liability in the same policy. Uneducated insurance companies (think the big carriers, like Farmers‘ or State Farm) have a tendency to write both a general policy as well as a professional liability policy. Although that can be the standard in other industries, it does not apply in the security guard insurance world. These two policies really need to be wrapped into a single overall policy – saving you money.
Claims
Another reason to have a single policy is when there is a claim. If you have two separate policies for general liability and professional liability, then there is almost always a big, big, big fight over who is liable. This creates an incredible amount of heartache for you and your business. Having a single policy allows you to focus on the important parts of the claim, mitigating any damages and providing training for your staff so as to help keep any claims from happening again.
Where is your Business?
It makes sense that a lot of the premium is based on where your business is located. For security guard companies that deal with office buildings, the risk is obviously lower than for those dealing with payroll. There are also risks associated with the part of town that you are located in, as well as the type of property that is being serviced.
Your Procedures
Although policies and procedures can be overlook, they shouldn’t be. Over time, companies with a great sense of training and having good policies and procedures tend to outperform those companies without good procedures. This applies both to claims as well as to general financial health.
Conclusion
Security Guard Company insurance is based upon the type of security guard company that you are, where you work, whether you have armed guards and your policies and procedures.