Picture this – you're a busy worker in a profession that comes with a lot of risks. You have booked a holiday for your family and, just days before you are scheduled to leave, you sustain an injury that stops you from travelling.

This situation highlights the importance of securing cancellation cover as part of your travel insurance. While it might be easy to assume that accidents won't affect your travel plans, there is too much at risk if something goes wrong.

But what do you need to consider in order to protect yourself against these sorts of incidents?

The first thing to do is to read the small print when you choose your travel insurance. Obviously, you should be looking to take out a policy which also features cancellation cover, so that you can be refunded the cost of cancelled trips.

While cancellation insurance is important, you also need to be sure that you understand the different exclusions that come from a specific policy. Injuries aren't the only reason for a cancellation cover policy, with a range of factors influencing the end result. Different policies may exclude factors like an employer revoking your leave, an unexpected natural disaster or a cancelled flight.

Even being called up for jury duty can easily derail your holiday plans.

Often, your ability to cover these risks will depend on the destination you are travelling to, along with your own working conditions, which will need to be considered before taking out insurance cover.

It is also important to get these policies sooner rather than later. Cover for incidents like natural disasters can only be claimed if the incident had been unforeseeable before you took out the policy. As with many things in life, it pays to get in early when it comes to travel insurance and cancellation cover in particular.

Having the right policy in place can make a big difference in case something gets in the way of your planned holiday.