Why Business Insurance Is So Important For Bounce Houses

The popularity of bounce houses has exploded in popularity over the past decade, which has naturally been coupled with a rise in the injuries attributed to them too. While bounce houses are an extremely popular activity for childrens’ birthday parties and other events, they are extremely risk-prone; the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) estimates more than 18,000 injuries were caused by inflatable bounce houses in 2018 alone.

As such, those running an inflatable bounce house business need to have the appropriate insurance to protect themselves against these inherent risks of the industry. While the main thing insurance should safeguard these firms from is general liability for bodily and property damage, there are other forms of insurance safeguards that such companies should be aware of. This article outlines all of these as well as their associated cost.

General Liability Insurance

Businesses of all industries are exposed to natural risks that they must shield themselves from with insurance. It is customary for almost all business owners to possess general liability insurance as it is one of the most comprehensive forms of insurance; this is no different for bounce house companies.

General liability insurance covers risks ranging from bodily injury, and the medical payments associated with it, to property damage and legal defence. Whilst not legally mandated to possess general liability insurance, to run a business without it is a big gamble. Needless to say, this gamble would be exponentially greater in an industry as risk and injury prone as the inflatable bounce house business.

Simply considering the eye-watering legal fees a business would be liable to pay if sued, and the payout they would have to pay if they lost the case is sufficient to understand why general liability is effectively standard practice. It protects against such ubiquitous risks that could result in an otherwise catastrophic outcome for a business.

Other Insurance That May Be Needed

Product Liability Insurance

While the clients of bounce house businesses necessarily accept some risk when using the bounce house, such businesses are still open to legal action due injury and bodily harm caused by use of their products. This is where product liability insurance comes in; should a lawsuit be filed against such a business on the basis of damage caused by one of its bounce houses, product liability insurance would safeguard it from legal costs. In fact, insurance coverage would extend to settlements where required.

Workers’ Compensation Insurance

This is another useful type of insurance bounce house companies should look into; it covers the cost of employee medical fees for work related injuries and will also work towards paying their lost wages for the time of work due to the same work-related injury.

It is very important to have since all employees hired to aid in the operation of the bounce house must have workers’ compensation coverage, and the majority of states require businesses with employees to provide this type of insurance.

Commercial Umbrella Insurance

This form of insurance policy was conceptualised to provide protection in situations that surpass the conditions of a general liability policy. Such umbrella policies are perfect for bounce house companies for whom it is not out of the realm of possibility that they will be held liable for something extremely expensive, for example extensive damages after a lost lawsuit.

Commercial Auto Insurance

The final recommended type of insurance for bounce house companies is commercial auto insurance. Obviously for customers to use the products of a bounce house company the latter must deliver it to the former, normally via vehicle, in which most states will require companies to cover customers with a commercial auto insurance policy.

This provides protection against a situation in which the vehicle carrying the bouncy castle is involved in an accident, and will provide funds towards the costs associated with the damage to the company’s vehicle as well as other vehicles damaged by it or the company employees.

Closing Remarks

As this article has elucidated, whilst not necessary, Bounce House Insurance is as close to a necessity for such businesses as possible due to the likelihood of injury associated with this product. For more information regarding this topic, The Really Useful Information Company’s (The Really Useful Information Company) website contains a myriad of useful articles on the subject that are certainly worth reading.