Operating a hair and beauty salon is about so much more than wowing your customer with the latest look that keeps heads turning. It takes commitment, a little bit of hard work and a lot of planning. From the brisk early mornings and late nights to the seemingly endless email chains, it might make you feel like you’re an accountant rather than an owner of a small beauty business.
But through it all, your sacrifice has resulted in a beauty business that fills you with an immense sense of pride – and so it should, considering the amount of time, sweat, and money you’ve put into it. So it makes sense that you wouldn’t want to risk all your perseverance and grit over something that can be protected against. This is why you wouldn’t want to risk it all over something that can be easily protected against.
Running a hair and beauty salon comes with a lot of risks. Some can be easily sorted out by yourself, while others you might consider needing a beauty salon insurance policy to offer protection. This short business guide talks about some of the common risks hair and salon business owners may face day-to-day, as well as present some strategies to help mitigate these risks from the workplace.
A lack of cleanliness
Cleanliness is just about the most crucial thing you can manage in your hair and beauty salon. Particularly in a post-pandemic environment, sanitation is key to avoiding risk and protecting reputation.
Your equipment needs to be either sterilised, sanitised, or disposable after every use. Items used on your clients, such as your clippers, scissors and hairbrushes, among others, will need to be cleaned regularly.
Whether it be hiring a cleaner or doing it yourself, ensure you have a regular cleaning routine set up in your salon and schedule times to check in on your general maintenance.
Your cleaning standards will greatly impact the level of risk you will face in your salon. If you are sloppy in your cleanliness, leaving hair on the floor or an unsecured electrical cord, for instance, the risk of a customer slipping or falling could be high.
While you may be extra careful and reduce the risk, an accident can happen in even the cleanest salons, so it may be worth considering getting Public Liability insurance for these situations.
Public Liability insurance provides comfort in knowing you are protected from third-party claims for property damage, and personal injury or death, in circumstances that are not covered by the Accident Compensation Commission (ACC).
Especially since you may often deal with hazardous chemicals, a claim against your salon could be catastrophic.
The risk of giving advice
You build your reputation in the hair and beauty business through your technical skills and expert advice. Your clients expect the best – and so they should, as that’s why they flock through your doors.
It’s therefore essential for your staff to be adequately trained to do the job they are paid to do. Not monitoring the training your employees’ level of skill and training is a serious risk to your salon.
While it may only result in a dodgy hair-do, having untrained workers giving advice could lead to more serious consequences where a compensation claim is made against your business.
This is why an important type of insurance for beauty salons is Professional Indemnity insurance*.
Professional Indemnity cover is designed to protect your business against claims for negligence or professional misconduct. It protects businesses against settlements and court costs, legal and defence costs, and costs relating to your public relations.
While there is still plenty you can do to minimise this risk, such as background checks and prioritising training days, having a Professional Indemnity is essential to protect your salon and mandatory if you are a member of the New Zealand Association of Registered Beauty Professionals.
Risks to your salon itself
If you run your small beauty business from a shopfront, there are various risks associated with your stock, contents, equipment, and the building itself.
From theft to fires, there are a variety of things that could happen to your physical business assets. A Business Insurance policy* is another common insurance product designed to protect your salon from a variety of events.
Business Insurance can include cover for the following risks your salon may face:
Contents and Stock*: Protect your salon’s contents and stock from events such as burglary, theft and loss or damage caused by fire and other perils.
Building*: Insures your building from the cost of repairs to damage or rebuilding if you were to suffer an insured event, like a fire, storm or earthquake (if you have taken out the earthquake option).
Portable Equipment*: if you run a mobile beauty salon, Portable Equipment cover provides protection for your equipment and stock if it is lost, stolen or damaged anywhere in New Zealand.
Business Interruption*: Business Interruption covers lost income and some of the increased costs of running your business as a result of interruption caused by events covered under your policy.
What can salon owners do?
On a scale between discussing the latest hair and beauty trends to lodging your taxes, assessing the level of risk your salon faces is definitely on the boring end. However, it needs to be considered; otherwise, you and your salon could pay the price.
While there are many risk mitigation strategies you can take on as a small business owner, among the most important is to ensure you have adequate insurance to cover a variety of situations.
Luckily, BizCover makes business insurance easy. Jump online to get multiple competitive quotes from some of New Zealand’s leading insurers so you can get back to making heads turn.
This information is general only and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. It should not be relied upon as advice. As with any insurance, cover will be subject to the terms, conditions and exclusions contained in the policy wording.
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