You know firsthand how easily mishaps can occur and how costly they can become.

To protect your business, personal livelihood, clients and employees, there are some basic policy types you should discuss with your insurance professional.

Essential coverage

First and foremost, you need general liability, also known as commercial general liability.

This type of coverage addresses any claims of bodily injury or damage to the property or personal possessions of people who don’t work for you.

Any accusation of fault, even if unsupported by facts, could result in significant legal fees and expenses for your company. As an example, imagine you clean and polish a floor. You put adequate caution signs in place, but someone disregards those signs and falls. You did your job properly, but the injured person still sues. If you have general liability insurance, it will cover legal fees and costs associated with your legal defense and pay for any medical fees or financial judgements that may ultimately be leveraged against you.

General liability also covers slander — if a person claims something you or your employee said damaged their reputation. This is especially important with all of today’s social media use. Just imagine that a picture of a client’s filthy home or business gets posted online or someone mentions a commercial client’s space during lunch at a local restaurant and that gets back to the client. That is grounds for a lawsuit.

If you’ve been entrusted with client keys, you should also check with your insurance professional if the general liability policy you’re considering covers lost keys, including the cost of replacing keys or, if required, the locks themselves.

Cleaning up additional risk

Depending on your business model, there are other insurance policies that may provide important protection. Your insurance professional can help you identify which policies are appropriate and how much coverage you need, but here are some other common insurance types carried by cleaning and janitorial companies.

Commercial property

If you have a business office, you’ll need commercial property insurance to protect the physical space itself and any property or business assets inside, such as office furniture, computers or cleaning equipment stored there.

Even if the space is owned by someone else and you rent, you’ll still need commercial property coverage for any of your owned or leased property.

Most commercial property insurance typically covers losses caused by fires, certain water damage and other common perils, but excludes losses specifically caused by earthquakes, floods or wildfires. It is important to understand what exclusions apply to the policy you’re considering so you can add coverage to your particular situation or geographic location, if needed.

If you store lots of chemicals, be sure to mention this to your insurance professional as well. It may be useful to add protection for pollution cleanup or debris removal.

Tools and equipment

Once your cleaning supplies or equipment are transported off site, you can no longer rely on commercial property insurance. Instead, you need tools and equipment coverage to protect against accidental damage, loss or theft.

The policy will provide reimbursement up to a specific amount (known as the policy limit — for example, $2,500) without requiring a specific list of covered equipment. However, if you have particularly expensive equipment that may be worth more than your policy limit, be sure to provide an inventory to your insurance professional so those items can be insured by name.

Equipment breakdown

Even with proper maintenance, your equipment can suffer a mechanical or electrical failure. An equipment breakdown policy covers the repair or replacement of expensive equipment you may rely on. Note that this is different from tools and equipment insurance, which only covers damage, loss or theft.

Business income

Business income insurance restores a percentage of your lost income if you are unable to operate your business due to a covered physical loss — for example, if floor polishing equipment that you need for large commercial properties is damaged due to a fire at your office. It will provide protection until the needed repair or replacement can be made and you are back in business full swing.

Employee crime

While you screen each employee and hope they will represent your business with honesty and integrity, issues do occur. Employee crime insurance shields your business from the financial consequences of employee theft from the business itself or from a client.

Important for many cleaning and janitorial businesses, this protection extends to temporary and seasonal employees, as well as independent contractors. You may name the individuals you want to have covered, or you may choose to insure your entire staff (called blanket coverage). Talk to your agent or broker about the cost implications of each option.

Commercial auto

Any vehicles owned by your cleaning or janitorial business should be insured with a commercial auto policy.

In addition, any personal vehicles owned by you or your employees should be protected by a commercial auto policy if they are used for work, such as running errands or traveling to and from client locations. This additional protection, called nonowned business auto insurance, is vital because personal auto policies won’t typically cover any accidents or incidents that occur when the vehicle is being used for business purposes.

You should also look at state requirements regarding workers’ compensation insurance. Even if your company is small enough to fly under the statutory benchmark, worker injury and illness is common. Whether from inhalation of toxic substances, eye or skin damage, or falls, these injuries and illnesses can be very expensive to treat and could put people out of work with no income for weeks. Workers’ compensation protects your company from big medical and lost-income payouts, so talk to your agent or broker about its value to your company.

Some janitorial and cleaning service companies turn to an insurance program or business owners policy, which bundle coverage that most businesses in your sector need. It’s a convenient and cost-effective way to get the basics, and you can add on coverage that isn’t included. It might be worth a look.