Look around any high street in the country and you will find that there is a wedding dress shop. Gone are the days when you were so restricted and had to travel miles for your dress fitting.
If you are the owner of one of these business then you will have shop insurance in place to cover your stock, contents and liabilities. Many of these shops are basic retail only, with the manufacture and alteration being undertaken by third parties or the dress suppliers.
However, more and more of these business are now realising that not only should you do the dress, clothing and accessory retail but you should also do the alterations on site.
If you do this then it is something that you need to notify to your commercial insurance company because there are increased risks. The two main risks that are increased are public liability and employers liability.
Public liability is increased if for example during the alteration process you manage to injure the potential bride. You may think this is unlikely, but in our increasing litigious country, anything is possible.
The main increased liability risk is to your employees. There is much more chance of an injury to someone using a sewing machine, scissor and other alteration equipment than someone who is undertaking a purely retail role. Again, we are not saying it is a huge risk, but as ever the potential in there.
You need to ensure that your policy specifically notes that you undertake alterations directly, otherwise they could turn around and decline the claim.