Making sure your hair salon is properly insured

Australia is home to more than 25,000 hairdressing and beauty services businesses. If yours is among them, you’ll know how tough building a loyal base of customers and a profitable enterprise can be.

Having the right insurance makes it easier to cope with accidents and incidents that might otherwise see the effort and expense you’ve invested in establishing a successful salon go down the gurgler.

So, what policies can hairdressing businesses benefit from? Steadfast Broker Technical Manager Michael White outlines the cover that can help shield you from the most common business risks.

Building and property cover

For those who own their premises, building insurance is often a wise first step. It can help  cover the cost of relocation and repairs, should disaster strike.

If your salon sells styling equipment, shampoos, or treatments, restocking can quickly become expensive. Having the right property insurance in place may offer peace of mind by helping to cover the cost of replacing stock that gets stolen, damaged, or lost.

Workplace injuries

If you have employees, you must have worker’s compensation insurance.

Taking steps to make your salon as safe as possible can reduce the likelihood of slips, trips and other common accidents.

“Prevention is always better than cure,” White says. “That means training your team and ensuring everyone follows safe practices while they’re clipping, colouring and cleaning up.”

Public liability

Then there are the risks that are unique to the hairdressing profession. Strong chemicals are in frequent use and, if an individual is sensitive or allergic to them, serious harm can occur.

“It’s particularly important to engage with a broker to ensure you’re covered for these sorts of adverse outcomes,” White says. “If your personal assets aren’t shielded, a major claim could potentially mean financial ruin.”

Cyber 

In today’s times, cybercrime has, unfortunately, become an everyday occurrence.

The Australian Cyber Security Hotline received an average of 100 calls a day in the last financial year, according to the Australian Signals Directorate’s Annual Cyberthreat Report 2023-2024.

Businesses of all stripes and sizes are in the sights of hackers and cyber-criminals and if yours falls victim it could be hair raising and highly expensive. The average self-reported cost of a cyber-crime incident was $49,600 for small businesses in 2023-24, the Report reveals.

Implementing some straightforward cyber-hygiene measures – think complex passphrases, regular software patching, frequent data back-ups and security awareness training for you and your team – can help make your hairdressing business safer, White says.

And if you’re unfortunate enough to experience an attack, cyber insurance can help cover your losses and the cost of remediation.

Cover to ensure your salon keeps on stylin’

Working with a broker is the best way to ensure your hairdressing business has the right type and level of cover in place. If you’d like some help reviewing your current policies, reach out to the Steadfast network today.

 

 

 

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