How To Protect Against Risks

Pennsylvania offers a powerful foundation for business success. With small businesses making up 99.6% of all companies in the state, entrepreneurship is not just common—it’s essential to the state’s economic identity. 

Small businesses aren’t the only sector seeing potential across the state. Pennsylvania’s gross state product reached $804.4 billion in 2024, and while employment growth across industries has been steady at 0.3% annually over the past five years, business expansion continues to drive job creation. More than 108,000 new jobs were added in 2025 thanks to business openings and expansions, many of them from small, locally rooted companies.

Despite Pennsylvania’s incredibly positive outlook for businesses, the state also poses some unique risks that organizations need to consider when determining their insurance coverage.

Here, we outline some of the most significant risks businesses in the state face and break down the coverage options designed to best protect against them. 

Risk #1: Weather & Environmental Risks

While not considered one of the most extreme weather states, Pennsylvania still experiences a wide range of weather patterns, which can prove dangerous for businesses. 

According to the National Weather Service, flooding is considered the state’s most frequent and damaging natural disaster, with property owners experiencing over $1.22 billion in structural damage costs annually. 

These weather events can range from flash floods caused by severe thunderstorms to river flooding along the Susquehanna and Delaware Rivers to urban flooding caused by poor drainage systems and aging infrastructure. 

Bookmark This: The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania provides a PA Flood Zone Map, which determines current and future flood risks based on data and weather events. Businesses and homeowners in the area can save and reference this tool to help mitigate losses from floods.

Other common weather-related incidents businesses in Pennsylvania should prepare to face include:

• Thunderstorms: Data shows Pennsylvania experiences between 30 and 40 thunderstorms per year, resulting in commercial property damage from lightning, hail, wind, and heavy rain.
• Windstorms: While less common than thunderstorms, these widespread and long-lived wind events can occasionally hit Pennsylvania, resulting in downed trees, roof damage, and power outages.
• Hurricanes: You might think Pennsylvania’s inland location makes damage from hurricanes unlikely, but remnants of these weather events often find their way to the region, bringing heavy rain, flash floods, and even landslides.
• Winter Storms and Nor’easters: These storms can bring heavy snow, ice storms, and blizzards to the area, resulting in property damage, power outages, and treacherous road conditions.

What Insurance Do I Need to Protect Against Weather Risks in Pennsylvania?

Below, we outline some of the policies designed to protect your business against damages caused by common weather-related risks in Pennsylvania:

• Commercial Property Insurance: This policy can provide financial protection against damage to the structure of your insured commercial building and business personal property. However, keep in mind that many carriers require separate flood insurance to insure against flood risk.
• Commercial Auto Insurance: This coverage protects against costly damage to commercial vehicles due to covered losses like weather-related harm or on-road accidents.
• Equipment Breakdown Coverage: This insurance covers the cost of repairing or replacing certain commercial equipment damaged due to covered losses. 
• Business Income (Interruption) Insurance: This policy protects your net income including continuing normal expenses, and provides financial assistance with extra expenses to help you maintain financial stability during operational downtime due to a covered cause of loss to property on your insured premises.

Additional Coverage: General Liability Insurance can help cover accidents that occur on your property due to weather, such as customers slipping on icy sidewalks or indoor leaks.

Risk #2: Aging Infrastructure and Legacy Buildings

As one of the oldest states in the country, Pennsylvania is known for its many historically significant buildings and landmarks. However, the average age of the city’s structures poses significant risks for the businesses occupying space there.

Decades-old water, gas, and electrical systems utilized throughout many Pennsylvania cities can lead to an increased risk of:

• Utility outages that disrupt business operations
• Water damage from corroded pipes or overwhelmed drainage systems
• Electrical fires due to outdated wiring and overloaded circuits

How to Protect Against Infrastructure-Related Risks in Pennsylvania

Whether you’re opening a café in a historic downtown or managing an industrial facility in an older commercial zone, it’s essential to:

• Assess your building’s systems and materials.
• Factor in the cost of compliance and modernization.
• Work with an insurance agent to ensure your commercial property policy accounts for specific factors like building ordinance coverage, equipment breakdown, and environmental liability.

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Risk #3: Transportation Exposures

Pennsylvania is considered home to one of the strongest trucking industries in the nation. It’s central location along interstates like I-76, I-80, I-95, and I-81 has marked it as a “hub for freight and logistics,” resulting in an estimated 93,600 truckers operating in the workforce by 2030.

While this is a great industry outlook for transportation companies looking to grow in Pennsylvania, the high number of trucks on the road means additional risks for the average commercial vehicle owner, including a higher likelihood of accidents, liability claims, and cargo losses, especially in congested urban areas or on heavily trafficked corridors like the PA Turnpike. In 2022 alone, heavy trucks were involved in 8,139 crashes across the state, accounting for 7.2% of all crashes that year.

Based on your industry, there are certain steps you can take to mitigate these risks. 

For trucking companies, this involves implementing safe driving practices, telematics, and fleet management software, and investing in transportation-specific policies like cargo insurance. 

Learn More: What Trucking Insurance Does My Company Need?

For other businesses, this might involve implementing safe driving protocols—like minimizing distracted driving and staying safe in inclement weather—and tailored telematics solutions. You might also consider working with an insurance carrier that provides roadside assistance for streamlined support when accidents occur and comprehensive commercial auto coverage.

Risk #4: Crime Exposure

Some of Pennsylvania’s most urban cities—like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Allentown—have elevated crime-related risks for businesses. 

Organized retail theft rings, motor vehicle theft, burglaries, robberies, and arson are among the most common reported crimes in the state, all of which pose direct threats to business owners. Cyber crimes have increased exponentially across the country, making cyberattacks another top-ranking risk for businesses in this area.

To protect against costly losses due to crime, business owners can invest in a few key insurance policies, including:

• Commercial Crime Insurance: This policy protects against losses like theft of money, securities, and safes due to burglaries and robberies, and employee theft. Preventative measures such as alarms, safes, vaults, locks, lighting, etc., are also crucial for reducing crime losses and lowering the cost of crime insurance for your business.
• Cyber Insurance: The projected cost of cybercrimes in 2025 is $10.5 trillion, with the average attack costing small and medium-sized businesses $25,000. Protect yourself and your business from the devastating effects of an attack on your computer systems and data breaches with cyber coverage.
• Employment Practices Liability: This insurance helps protect employers from claims made by employees alleging wrongful termination, discrimination, or harassment, including sexual harassment.

The Right Insurance Carrier is The Key to Proper Coverage in Pennsylvania

For many business owners, insurance planning can fall to the bottom of the to-do list, especially when you’re focused on the day-to-day demands of running a business. However, overlooking region-specific risks can leave you vulnerable to disruptions that cost far more time and money in the long run. 

The good news? You don’t have to tackle these risks alone. When you work with the right carrier, you acquire a team of insurance experts dedicated to keeping you and your business safe.

At Central, this is the root of our approach. We work alongside our commercial policyholders to address the regional- and industry-specific risks they face, and create a coverage plan that fits their needs. From endorsement options to uniquely tailored coverage packages, our agent partners are committed to meeting you where you’re at and providing the level of support you need to feel confident in your protection.

Alongside tailored coverages, Central is also known industry-wide for its commitment to hospitality and relationships. If the worst does happen and you find yourself facing a loss, you’ll be treated with prompt and reliable service by a team of claims and customer service professionals who care about getting you back on track.

The Proof Is In the Feedback: Our customers have generously ranked us 4.9/5 stars on Google, and provided us a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of .72—a high honor compared to the average insurance company’s NPS of .35. Visit 7 Things Customers Love About Working with Central for more insight into our policyholders’ experience with us.

Take the Next Step

Ready to protect your Pennsylvania-based business against the region’s unique risks? Contact a Central agent today for help determining what policies are a best fit for you, and be sure to subscribe to the Central Blog to receive industry-specific loss control tips right in  your inbox.