If you’re struggling to keep your small business afloat, imagine how much harder it could be with an unexpected injury.
One slip and fall or car accident can completely throw your business budget out of whack.
Suddenly you’re hit with medical expenses, reduced productivity, and legal fees. What happened to your budget?
The sad reality is most small business owners don’t realize how devastating an unexpected injury can be until it happens to them or one of their employees.
Let’s talk about how you can protect your small business budget from the chaos of an unexpected injury…
You’ll learn:
- The Shocking Cost of Injuries To Small Businesses
- How Negligence Causes A Budget Nightmare
- Costs You Aren’t Expecting
- Legal Protection Is Key
- Ways To Safeguard Your Small Business Budget
The Shocking Cost of Injuries To Small Businesses
Before we jump into how injuries affect your budget, let’s take a look at some hard numbers.
In a recent Pie Insurance report, they found that in 2024, 75% of small businesses in the U.S. reported that there were workplace injuries. On average, each small business reported over $20,000 in injury-related expenses.
That doesn’t sound too bad… until you run a small business.
Most small businesses don’t have the financial cushion of a larger corporation. They run on razor thin margins. And every dollar counts.
Here’s another fun statistic from the National Safety Council…
They estimate that workplace injuries cost U.S. businesses approximately $176.5 billion annually. That breaks down to about $43,000 per injury that required medical consultation.
If you own a small business and someone gets hurt on your watch… those costs come out of your pocket.
Whether it’s an employee injury at the workplace, customer injury on your premises, or you as the business owner injured in an accident (car, slip and fall) due to someone else’s negligence… you need to be prepared.
Negligence injuries can open you up to having to pay for injuries that weren’t your fault. Partnering with the right lawyers can help you recover damages and ensure your small business doesn’t take on costs that aren’t yours to bear. RHINO Lawyers is one option to consider.
How Negligence Causes A Budget Nightmare
Negligence injuries are bad. They can ruin your budget.
Ok ok… Let’s dive into the specifics of why.
Imagine this:
You’re a small business owner who runs a roofing company. You’re on your way to meet a client at their supplier’s location when you get hit by a car. The other driver was texting and runs a stop sign.
You suffer serious injuries and are out of work for several weeks.
Who’s running your business now? What about your clients?
You’ll immediately face obvious expenses like medical bills, emergency room visits, and physical therapy. But that’s just the beginning.
Because you can’t run your business for several weeks, you start losing money. You may need to hire a temporary replacement or pay overtime to your other employees to cover your workload.
Not to mention, you’re going to miss deadlines, cancel client meetings, and most likely lose clients as a result.
Costs You Aren’t Expecting
When you think of an injury ruining your budget, you probably think about the medical bills. But there are a lot of hidden costs that can sink your budget.
Here are some of the biggest ones that catch people off guard:
- Lost productivity. If you’re injured, who’s running your business? Even if you have a small team, businesses rely on each team member to function. Take one person out of the equation and watch productivity plummet.
- Higher insurance premiums. Let’s say you need to make an insurance claim because of your injury. Once you file that claim, your insurance premiums are going to go up. You’ll be paying that increased rate for as long as you have that insurance policy.
- Legal fees. If you have to defend yourself against a claim or work with a lawyer to obtain compensation for a negligence injury, those legal fees can really add up.
- Damage to your reputation. Clients and customers won’t like if you miss deadlines or can’t fulfill orders because you were injured. Once you lose that trust, it’s hard to get back.
- Stress and mental health. Trying to run a business while injured is incredibly stressful. Not only will your physical injuries affect your ability to do your job, but your mental health will take a toll too.
All of these costs add up quickly and can destroy a small business budget.
Legal Protection Is Key
Here’s a little known fact most small business owners don’t know.
Having the right legal protections in place can save your business thousands (if not tens of thousands) of dollars if an injury occurs.
Think about the last point. If you suffer an injury because of someone else’s negligence and have to take time off work to recover, you could be looking at lost income for weeks or months.
In the U.S., when somebody is injured because of someone else’s negligence, they have the ability to pursue a claim against that person.
This is important because…
If you decide not to pursue that claim, you as the business owner are stuck paying all of the medical expenses and lost wages. Every bill comes out of your business profits.
But if you have the right legal team on your side, you can seek compensation from the negligent party. That money goes right back into your business instead of coming out of your profit.
It’s all about protecting your business AND your budget.
Ways To Safeguard Your Small Business Budget
Alright, now that we know how injuries can harm your budget. What can you do to protect yourself?
These are the basics that every small business owner should have in place.
First, you want to make sure you have the right insurance coverage. General liability, workers compensation, and professional liability insurance are your best friends. Review your policies every year to ensure your coverage is up-to-date.
Document, document, document. One of the best ways to protect your business from negligence injuries is to have thorough documentation. Take videos and pictures of your workplace safety protocols and display them prominently. Keep a detailed spreadsheet of any incident reports or repairs.
Create an emergency fund. If you have a cash reserve to fall back on, you’ll have something to rely on while an injury is taking a toll on your business. Ideally, you should shoot to save up 3-6 months of expenses but having something is much better than nothing.
Know who you’re going to contact before you need them. If you think you may be injured due to someone else’s negligence, find a negligence injury lawyer and get familiar with their process. When the time comes to take legal action, you’ll save valuable time by already knowing who to call and what to do.
Have a back-up plan. If you or another key member of your business are injured and cannot come to work, what’s your plan? Having a basic business continuity plan can prevent your business from missing a beat if the unthinkable happens.
Wrapping Up
The truth is… injuries are bad for small business budgets.
Between physical injuries that require medical attention and injuries caused by someone else’s negligence, your budget can easily take a nosedive.
Remember:
- Injuries happen more often than you think.
- Negligence injuries cause a ripple effect of expenses.
- There are always unexpected costs involved with injuries.
- Having legal protection in place can save your business money.
- You can protect your budget by preparing NOW.
If you don’t think something bad will happen to your business, you’re only setting yourself up for failure. Plan for the worst, hope for the best, and protect that small business budget!
