Ontario Commercial General Liability Insurance

CGL insurance for Ontario businesses

Protect your growing Ontario business from financial liability and the costs associated with defending potential lawsuits with commercial general liability insurance (also known as CGL insurance).

Our policies will also help protect you from allegations of negligence for bodily injury to others or property damage of others arising out of your operations, products or services. Our expert brokers will provide you with the sound advice to protect your business.

Often contracts with your landlord, clients, lenders or the government require evidence of commercial liability insurance. We can arrange specialized coverage needed for your Ontario business.

Ontario Commercial General Liability Explained

What is commercial general liability insurance?

Commercial general liability insurance covers the cost of defending lawsuits that arise from a person outside your company being injured or having their property damaged by something your company or employees did or failed to do.

This type of insurance also pays damages and medical payment resulting from such lawsuits. Commercial general liability insurance can also protect your Ontario business if you are sued for slander or defamation of character.

Any time you meet a client or potential customer face-to-face or handle equipment that belongs to them, you have the potential for a liability lawsuit. Don’t risk the business you’ve built so carefully by not insuring against such lawsuits.

To learn more about protecting your Ontario business from liability claims, contact Acera Insurance today.

Ontario commercial general liability insurance claim examples

Commercial general liability claims are some of the most common claims a business could face and are oftentimes the claims that take businesses the most by surprise.

Commercial general liability insurance provides coverage for premises liability, when accidental injuries occur to third parties (i.e., vendors, customers, visitors) that injure themselves at you’re a business location; completed operations liability, when property damage or injuries occur on someone else’s property when an employee is delivering services or goods to a customer; product liability, when the goods a company produces or repairs cause damage or injury; and personal or advertising injury liability, when you’re a business is accused of libel, slander, or defamation.

The following claim examples could be covered by a commercial general liability insurance policy.

Example 1: Premises Liability

Your store has a long winding set of stairs that lead up to the shop. The stairs are metal, so when it rains, they can get quite slippery. After it rained overnight, an employee forgot to put up a sign for wet surface, and a customer coming up to your store slips and fails. They end up filing a lawsuit against your business for the injuries they suffered due to the accident.

Bodily injury claims, like slips-and-falls, can cost anywhere between $10,000 to $50,000. The amount can vary depending on the exact case and it can increase depending on the degree of negligence on the part of your business as well as the extent of injuries that the third party sustained.

Example 2: Product Liability

Your business manufactures car seats for young babies and toddlers. Unfortunately, there was a defect in the design of a particular car seat and a customer sues your business due to a failure of the seat to protect their child, resulting in serious injuries. They sue you for their child’s injuries sustained by the defective product. 

Some businesses that deal in the selling of products may also need to purchase additional product liability insurance, beyond the amount that is offered in commercial general liability insurance. Product liability claims can be quite expensive, and you may need to consider the addition of product recall insurance to include coverage for recall costs.

Example 3: Completed Operations Liability

You own a roofing company, and you send one of your employees to do a job at a client’s home. While the job begins without a hitch, your employee makes a mistake and a portion of the eavestroughs come loose and fall onto the customer’s car, damaging it. The customer holds your roofing company liable for the damages to their car.

Completed operations liability is included in your commercial general liability insurance and can cover instances like these. This insurance is helpful for any business that conducts work offsite or delivers goods to customers.

Commercial general liability insurance exclusions in Ontario

Now that you’ve seen a few examples of what commercial general liability insurance can cover, it is just as important to familiarize yourself with the policy exclusions. Commercial general liability insurance will not cover any of the following (but note, many of these can be covered by other forms of commercial insurance):

• Intentional damages
• Physical damage to business property
• Professional services (like advice or consulting)
• Cyberattacks and data breaches
• Commercial auto liability
• Intoxication-related accidents
• Breakdown of business equipment
• Loss of business revenue

For a fully comprehensive business insurance policy that includes not only commercial general liability insurance, but all the types of coverage your business needs to be insured, contact Acera Insurance. Our expert commercial insurance brokers will tailor a policy specific to your company needs.

How is commercial general liability insurance priced in Ontario?

Each company will be priced based on their risk. That risk can vary, based on these key factors:

• Where your business is located
• What it does/its industry
• The average cost of a lawsuit in its industry
• Your employees
• Your gross annual revenue
• Your business experience
• Your insurance history
• The products you sell or the service you provide
• Your coverage options and limits

Acera Insurance has expert commercial general liability insurance brokers who can get you the comprehensive insurance at the best price. Get in touch with us today or apply for a free commercial general liability insurance quote.

Acera Insurance’s general liability risk management advice

The more claims you end up making, the more you are likely to end up paying for your commercial general liability insurance. Although some claims may be inevitable and incidental, you can control the cost of your insurance premiums and improve your operations overall by adopting specific risk management strategies. Mitigation activities and awareness surrounding risk management can mean that your business is safer, your workers are safer and your brand can retain its gleaming reputation.

Risk, if we were to look at it from the perspective of an insurance company, is the potential that a loss — or other unexpected adverse event — could cause damages or even interfere with a business’ ability to continue operations as usual. Risk can be insured, but constantly relying on insurance as a fallback is not always the best means of protecting your company.

Enter risk mitigation. Here are a few tips for general liability risk management:

• For businesses, having agreements in writing or contracts is key. These contracts should outline the responsibilities not just of the business, but the client/customer as well. They may waive the business’ liability if a client/customer is injured due to business operations.
• Train employees and only hire candidates after rigorous background checks. Your business is only as strong as its weakest link, and this ensures that your business can be staffed with knowledgeable, dedicated individuals.
• Implement protocol for looking after and maintaining equipment, vehicles and stations. Create a checklist of what needs to be done each day.
• Have employees create an incident report of every possible accident that occurs on business premises or because of business activities.
• Make sure each member of your team is aware of who they need to be reporting to, so there is always a seamless pipeline of communication.
• Work with an Acera Insurance commercial general liability insurance broker for more risk management tips based on the business you run.

Why trust Acera Insurance to find the best Ontario CGL policy for your business?

Requesting a free, no-obligation commercial general liability insurance quote is quick and easy! Simply complete the quote request form and one of our Acera Insurance brokers will contact you.

If your business deals with people — and that includes most companies — you need commercial general liability insurance. It doesn’t matter whether you have a small direct sales business or a large multi-city operation; you need to protect your business from liability issues that can arise from things like a customer tripping and injuring themself while walking on your sidewalk, a visitor getting hit on the head by a falling vendor booth display, or you accidentally spill coffee on a client’s laptop, erasing all their data.

As careful as your company may be, it is impossible to prevent events like these from happening. That’s where commercial general liability insurance comes in to protect your business from bearing staggering litigation costs.