Commercial General Liability Insurance defends and indemnifies businesses against various actions that allege the business and its employees were negligent, leading to bodily injury to person(s) or third party property damage. Commercial General Liability Insurance is available through licensed insurance brokers that have access to licensed general insurers. A broker will represent your needs to several insurers.

Commercial General Liability Insurance is regarded widely by purchasers of products and services as proof that a company is financially responsible for third party bodily injury or property damage arising from its products or services and operations. (Note, commercial general liability insurance does not cover liability arising from professional services which requires a separate type of insurance coverage called errors and omissions liability insurance or professional or malpractice liability insurance). For example, if a construction company in Ontario bids to an owner to build a warehouse, the owner will usually ask for evidence of commercial general liability insurance from the construction company. As another example, a candy or cookie manufacturer may supply its products to a retail grocery chain. The grocery chain will usually ask for evidence of commercial general liability insurance. Not many businesses can operate for long without commercial general liability insurance.

When do you need commercial general liability insurance? The best answer is from the moment you decide to open your doors for business as from that point forwards, you may be held liable for bodily injury or property damage arising from your services or products. Additionally, a business can fully expect that when entering any contractual agreement to provide products or services, the party to whom the product or service is being supplied will almost invariably want to see evidence of commercial general liability insurance in Ontario and in fact across Canada.