Learn how lighting fixture manufacturers insurance helps lighting fixture industry manufacturing businesses protect themselves against the many complex risks they face every day. Whether your business is large or small, or you make one or many products – you need the right commercial insurance program to protect you.
Lighting Fixture Manufacturers Insurance
Lighting Fixture Manufacturers Insurance. Lighting and wiring manufacturers produce lamps, light fixtures and light bulbs of all kinds, including heat lamps, ultraviolet bulbs and lamps used in tanning salons, and bulbs used in medical treatments. Products may be designed for residential or commercial use. The manufacture of lighting and wiring equipment involves a variety of operations. The product exterior can be made of plastic, wood, glass, pottery, stone, or metal.
The interior contains electrical wiring or electronic circuitry. The manufacture of incandescent light bulbs, fluorescent tubes, and similar replaceable components involves glass housing filled with wiring, gases, and chemicals, either in a vacuum or under high pressure. Some of these chemicals are highly toxic, especially mercury. The different phases of manufacture may be carried out in different locations or different countries.
Separate divisions or independent firms (subcontractors) may handle a single aspect of the process, such as producing circuit boards or making peripherals and accessories. Some manufacturers may subcontract the separate operations and simply perform the final assembly.
Owning a business in the lighting fixture manufacturing industry can be quite lucrative. After all, floor lamps, ceiling lamps, sconces, chandeliers, and all other forms of lighting fixtures are always needed. However, while you love what you do and your business may be in high demand, there are certain liabilities that you face as a lighting fixture manufacturer.
A piece of machinery could malfunction, resulting in a serious injury for one of your employees. A client could file a lawsuit against you claiming that you were negligent or that you did not deliver the work that you said you would. A vendor could trip over a wire while delivering materials and suffer a serious injury. A fire could break out in your building, damaging the physical property, as well as the contents within it.
For these reasons – and more – it’s absolutely vital for lighting fixture manufacturing businesses to have the right type of insurance coverage. While you can invest in several individual policies to ensure that you are properly covered, a single lighting fixture manufacturers insurance policy that covers the essentials that lighting fixture manufacturers need to be protected against is a much more simplified, and often more affordable.
About Lighting Fixture Manufacturing Insurance
Lighting fixture manufacturers can take advantage of a single policy that offers the most important protections that are needed in this industry. Lighting fixture manufacturers insurance coverage typically includes the following:
- Commercial General Liability: In the event that a client, a vendor, or any other third-party suffers an injury while on the premises of your business, commercial general liability insurance will help to cover the cost of any medical care that the individual requires. It can also help to pay for the cost of legal fees, should the individual file a lawsuit against you.
- Product Liability: If a lighting fixture that you made malfunctions and causes an injury, for instance, a client could sue you for the damages. Product liability coverage will help to protect you against the costs that are associated with litigation, such as lawyers’ fees, court fees, and any compensation that you might be required to pay.
- Commercial Property: This type of coverage protects the physical building that your business operates out of, as well as all of the contents that lie within the building, from acts of vandalism, fires, and storm damage. For example, if a tree falls on your building during a wind storm, commercial property coverage will help to pay for the repairs that the building needs. Or, if someone breaks into your business and steals inventory or machinery, this type of coverage will assist with the cost of replacing the stolen items.
- Workers Compensation: If you employ a staff, workers’ comp coverage is a must. Lighting fixture manufacturers insurance can also include coverage for your employees. For example, if a staff member is injured while working, workers’ comp would help to pay for his or her medical care, as well as any wages that the employee lost. If the individual were to file a lawsuit against your company, this type of coverage will also help to pay for legal fees.
- Commercial Auto: Many lighting fixture manufactures use vehicles for business-related purposes. If an accident occurs while you or an employee is driving a car or van for work-related reasons, a policy that includes commercial auto coverage will cover the damages that the vehicle sustains, as well as any injuries that the drivers and passengers suffer.
These are just some of the coverage options that a lighting fixture manufacturers insurance policy can provide. Of course, every business is different, so you may not require all of these coverage options, or you may require more. By speaking to a reputable insurance agent, you can find out exactly what type insurance you need, how much coverage you should carry, and how much your policy will cost.
Lighting Fixture Products Manufacturing’s Perils And Risks
Property exposures consist of an office, plant, and warehouse or yard for storage of raw materials and finished goods. Ignition sources include heating and cooling equipment, production machinery, electrical panels, and operations such as glass blowing, woodworking, plastic coating, molding or extruding, work with sheet metal, wire, rod, or tubing, soldering, or welding. The risk increases in the absence of proper dust collection systems, ventilation, and adequate disposal procedures.
Paints, lubricants, degreasers, and solvents can be flammable and must be adequately separated and stored away from other operations. Welding and soldering must be done away from combustibles and flammable liquids. Metal housing may require soldering, electroplating, or annealing. Metal or wood may be painted by spray or in dip tanks. Spray-painting operations can cause a fire unless carried out in spray booths with explosion-proof electrical components. Testing may produce arcing. Chemicals used in the process may cause noxious fumes and corrosion. Without a sterile environment, circuitry may be contaminated by dust or damaged by static.
Electronic circuitry is highly susceptible to smoke and other contamination. A very small fire can cause total damage if there is not adequate separation of the storage from the possible ignition sources. Glass components or decorations are highly susceptible to marring and breakage. Electronics may be targets for theft. Appropriate security controls should be taken including physical barriers to prevent entrance to the premises after hours and an alarm system that reports directly to a central station or the police department. There can be a significant business income and extra expense exposure, depending on the amount of time required to restore operations.
Equipment breakdown exposures include malfunctioning production equipment, ventilation and dust collection systems, electrical control panels and other apparatus. A lengthy breakdown to production machinery could result in a severe loss, both direct and under time element.
Crime exposure comes from employee dishonesty and theft of circuitry, precious metal plating in the fixtures, and some high-end products. Employees may act alone or in collusion with outsiders in stealing money, raw materials, or finished stock. Background checks should be conducted on all employees. There must be a separation of duties between persons handling deposits and disbursements and handling bank statements. The manufacturer should have security methods in place to prevent theft.
Inland marine exposures include accounts receivable if the manufacturer offers credit, computers (which may include computer-run production equipment), exhibitions, goods in transit and valuable papers and records for customers’ and suppliers’ information. The primary causes of loss are breakage, fire, water damage, theft, collision, and upset.
Premises liability exposure is normally low as access by visitors is limited. If the manufacturer conducts tours or has a showroom or retail outlet, visitors may be injured by slips, trips, or falls. If the manufacturer performs the retail delivery or installation, there may be frequent small property damage claims. Fumes, dust, and noise from woodwork or metalwork could affect neighbors. There may be significant off-premises exposures at promotional events.
Products liability exposure depends on the size and type of lighting being produced. Whenever electricity is used, there must be adequate warnings of precautions customers must take to avoid the possibility of electrocution. Small parts in lamps designed for children’s use could present a choking hazard. Sharp edges could result in cuts and other injuries. Fluorescent, mercury-vapor, arc lamps, and others contain mercury, which is highly toxic.
Some of these may operate under high pressure and at high temperatures, presenting an explosion hazard. Unless controlled, dangerous ultraviolet (UV) rays may be emitted. While the UV rays are desirable in operations such as tanning salons and some medical and industrial applications, they still pose the risk of severe injury to skin and eyes. Heavy items should have bases large enough to prevent accidental overturn. All governmental regulations, guidelines, and standards must be observed.
Environmental impairment liability exposure may be very high due to possible contamination of ground, air, and water from chemicals and toxic lubricants, solvents and paints. Chemicals employed in metalwork may include solvents and heavy metals. Mercury is still used in several common types of lamp. For plastics, the raw materials may be toxic and are flammable, the catalysts may be caustic, and the final product is usually not biodegradable. Storage and disposal procedures must adhere to all EPA and other regulatory standards.
Commercial auto exposure may be high if the manufacturer picks up raw materials or delivers the finished goods to customers. Since some of the goods may be high targets for theft, vehicles transporting the product should be unmarked and contain appropriate protective devices. Manufacturers generally have private passenger fleets used by sales representatives. There should be written procedures regarding the private use of these vehicles by others. Drivers should have an appropriate license and an acceptable MVR. All vehicles must be well maintained with documentation kept in a central location.
Workers compensation exposures may be very high. Injuries from production machinery are common, as are minor cuts, puncture wounds, burns, foreign objects in the eye, hearing impairment from noise, slips, trips, falls, back injuries from lifting, and repetitive motion losses. Workstations should be ergonomically designed. Working with electronics can result in electrocution.
Metalworking can result in injury from cuts, amputations, exposure to dust, and respiratory problems from spray-painting operations and solvents employed. Plastics have similar exposures, plus the potential for burns from heated machinery and eye and skin irritants from chemicals and resins. Lamp production may involve exposure to highly toxic chemicals, such as mercury.
Workers must be made aware of the potential side effects of the ingredients they work with, including long-term occupational disease hazards, so they can recognize symptoms and obtain treatment as early as possible. The high volume required for production schedules may lead workers to remove guards on the machinery, or to postpone maintenance and repair to increase production.
Lighting Fixture Manufacturers Insurance – The Bottom Line
We hope this article on lighting fixture manufacturers insurance has been informative. Together, you and an insurance broker can determine the best insurance coverage for the needs of your business and device a policy that works for you. In order to properly protect yourself from the financial perils that could potentially arise as a result of accidents, injuries, or litigation, it’s essential that you have the right type of insurance coverage.