Insuring our things, be it our homes or our lives or anything in between, tends to slip our minds surprisingly often. However, getting caught out can prove catastrophic. It’s understandably difficult to see the funny side if you’re the one involved in an incident. However, some reasons for insurance claims (even if genuinely painful) are really pretty funny.

The office holds more hazards than you might think, and while some are often disregarded a great deal are quite serious. A rotund colleague cracking the photocopier while performing a prank is, admittedly, quite funny (if expensive), and definitely a good reason to take out office insurance. An employee getting eletrocuted by a poorly maintained piece of equipment, however, is definitely not funny.

Small business insurance is also nothing to be sniffed at. Just think of a small, independently run glassware shop who just happens to have the misfortune of someone driving their car straight through the front windows (sorry if you were expecting a bull; it wasn’t exactly a china shop, after all). Even if nobody was hurt the sheer amount of damage and loss of stock would be utterly crippling.

While it might not occur to you that hairdressers or beauty practitioners might need to take out salon insurance, it’s actually a rather large problem in the trade. Beauty salons contain a lot of potentially dangerous equipment which can harm either clients or staff. A recent trend in the beauty industry is the acid face peel. While these peels usually contain only a very small percentage of acid, some are more powerful, and require a medical professional in order to administer them. There has been a spate of recent court cases where improperly performed beauty treatments have ended up seriously harming clients.

Don’t be caught out: make sure you’re insured.