Nail Technician Insurance Policies

Nail technician insurance cover is essential to anyone who provides professional nail treatment services to other people. It may seem silly to purchase insurance for such a thing as painting someone else’s fingernails. However, even that simple act of applying coloured varnish could make a nail technician (NT) vulnerable to lawsuits and financial ruin. NTs can easily acquire expensive legal liabilities through just a single mishap since they do much more than merely applying coloured varnish.

For instance, a nail technician could be held legally liable if a client is adversely affected by a treatment. The NT could also be held legally liable if a client’s property was damaged in any way. It’s easy to envision a lawsuit from an employee as the result of a NT’s failure to properly comply with health and safety regulations. One can only imagine what would happen if failure to properly dispose of chemicals and varnishes caused a child’s death or serious illness.

Factors to consider

One reason many NTs fail to purchase insurance is because they simply do not know how to assess the risks they may be taking on a daily basis. There are many factors to be considered when creating a nail technician insurance portfolio. If these factors are ignored, the NT could end up with too much, too little, and no cover simultaneously. Some of these factors are:

Is the NT is self-employed or working for someone else?

This can help to determine the amount of cover needed, especially if the place of employment will be providing some cover too.

Location where work is performed (i.e. client’s home, salon, NT’s home, or spa):

This can determine how much cover is needed, as well as what types. A mobile NT will need Stocks & Content in transit more than a stationary NT will. A NT working in an area that’s more exposed to the general public will need more Public Liability cover than a NT working at home.

Who the clientele will be:

This can determine who’ll be most likely to file a claim, and the amount of the claim filed. People who work in occupations where images are important will be more likely to file a claim than people who work in fields that don’t require good images.

What treatments and services will be provided:

This can determine how much cover is needed, based on the risks involved with the type of treatment. Some treatments present a risk due to the products containing high levels of chemicals and acids, while others may present a higher risk due to the type of equipment or tools used.

NT’s personal and business budget:

A NT will have to use money out of own pocket to meet liability claims if there’s insufficient insurance cover. NTs can be held personally responsible for paying legal liabilities acquired through their mishaps, so all NTs need to be sure that adequate insurance is carried, whether self-employed or employed by someone else. If the employer doesn’t carry enough insurance and doesn’t have the funding, then the NT may have to pay the liability debt out of his or her own pocket.

Location where business is based (i.e. home office, salon, or nail bar):

The location where a business is based may be the same or different from the location where the work is performed. This location factors into what types of cover may be required. A home-based business may need extra home insurance cover whereas a salon-based business may need commercial building insurance. A mobile NT may need a more comprehensive motor vehicle insurance cover.

Amount of work being performed (i.e. full-time employment or part-time employment):

This can determine the level of risk the NT faces- the more frequent the NT performs treatments, then the more likely a mishap will occur which can result in a legal liability claim. A tired, rushed NT will more likely make mistakes than one who is fresh and relaxed.

NT’s level of experience and training:

This can factor into what types and amounts of cover are needed. A NT just setting out into the beauty field with little training is more likely to have more frequent mishaps than a more experienced, well-trained NT.

It’s important to remember that an insurance portfolio that works well for one NT may not work so well for another NT. This is because the nail-care industry covers a wide range of services, which vary in levels of risk. Insurance companies also vary widely on what is included and excluded on the various types of policies. So nail technicians should tailor their insurance portfolio to fit their own risk management needs.

It’s also important to remember that risk levels and insurance schemes can change as time passes by. Therefore, nail technicians should re-evaluate their insurance portfolio once a year. They should also re-evaluate their insurers once a year. Just because the insurer had the best offer available this year doesn’t mean the insurer will still have the best offer next year. Fortunately, there are numerous insurance and insurance comparison sites on the Internet that can help make this re-evaluation easy to do. These sites also make it easy to purchase nail technician insurance cover.