Electrical contractors insurance

Public liability insurance for electrical contractors

In case you or your employee injure someone or damage their property.

What’s typically covered by public liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• damage to someone’s property, caused by your work
• injuries caused by your business activities
• accidental damage or injury caused by your employees, if you have any

If you do employ anyone, you’re usually required by law to have employers’ liability insurance too.

For example:

• while working on a new build development site you forget to make the customer aware their sockets are unusable, and they get a small electric shock
• you accidentally tread mud through a customer’s brand new carpet, which need to be replaced or deep cleaned

Read more about public liability insurance

Employers’ liability insurance

In case an employee gets sick or injured while working for you.

What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• an employee, including a contractor or casual labourer, suing you after injuring themselves because of working for your electrical business, or
• making a claim for an injury they’ve had while working for you

**Employers’ liability insurance is required by law if you have people working for you. Without it, you could be fined up to £2,500 a day for each employee.**

For example:

• one of your contractors gets an electric shock while on site, burning their hands – they’ve been signed off work for a week
• you hire a new apprentice who, while working on a small side project, falls from the ladder you’ve set up, breaking their wrist

Tools insurance

In case your tools are lost, stolen or damaged.

What’s typically covered by tools insurance for electrical contractors?

• your tools are stolen from your locked van, while it’s parked in your drive overnight
• a fire in your site static unit causes damage to the tool kits you’ve just upgraded, which need replacing

For example:

• larger plant items you use to carry out your electrician work – you’ll need to add our specific plant cover for these

Read more about tools insurance

Stock insurance

In case materials you’re responsible for, like bricks, are lost, stolen, or damaged.

What’s typically covered by stock insurance for electrical contractors?

• loss, damage or theft of your work materials, or items you’re planning to sell

For example:

• you keep spare stock items in your van for bigger jobs – these get damaged by a leak in the roof and need to be replaced
• the materials you’ve ordered for a new commercial contract are stolen from your locked static unit

Read more about stock insurance

Business and office equipment insurance

In case things like laptops or office filing cabinets are lost, stolen, or damaged.

What’s typically covered by business and office equipment insurance?

• theft, flood, fire or accidental damage to the equipment you use to run your electrical business
• operational equipment like your laptop, rather than the trade tools you take out and about

For example:

• your child spills juice on your work laptop over the weekend – it stops working properly and you can’t access your client information
• a small fire on site damages your phone and laptop, which will need replacing

Read more about business and office equipment insurance

Hired-in plant insurance

In case plant machinery, like excavators, you’ve hired in is lost, stolen, or damaged.

What’s typically covered by hired-in plant insurance?

• loss, damage or theft of things like test sets which you’ve hired in

For example:

• an employee uses the wrong key for a rented plant item, damaging it beyond repair
• your hired-in plant is stolen from the construction site, and the hire charges still apply while you wait for a replacement

What you’ll need additional cover for

• tools and plant machinery which you own yourself – you’ll need to add our specific own plant insurance or tools cover for this

Read more about hired-in plant insurance

Own plant insurance

In case plant machinery, like excavators, you own is lost, stolen, or damaged.

What’s typically covered by own plant insurance?

• loss, damage or theft of things like your own high voltage test set

For example:

• your own plant is locked away on site when you leave for the day, and stolen during a break-in
• the test set you’re using gets damaged by another contractor while being moved between site locations

What you’ll need additional cover for

• plant machinery you’ve rented – you’ll need to add our specific hired-in plant cover for this

Read more about own plant insurance

Contract works insurance

In case your building work in progress is damaged by something like a fire, flood or vandalism.

What’s typically covered by contract works insurance for electrical contractors?

• repair costs for the work you have in progress if it’s damaged or destroyed
• labour, materials and tools to get the job back to the stage it was at before it was damaged or destroyed
• damage caused by things like fire, flood, storm, vandalism or theft

For example:

• you’re rewiring a warehouse and a bad storm causes the roof to cave in, damaging your work and materials and causing a month’s delay
• vandals break into your work site and cause fire damage to your ongoing works, setting the completion date back by three months

Read more about contract works insurance

Legal expenses insurance

In case you have to pay legal costs connected with your electrical business.

What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?

• legal costs attributed to your business
• property damage, nuisance or trespass – specifically, the associated legal claims and compensation payouts
• tax and compliance disputes and investigations you need help with
• includes a tax advice helpline, a 24/7 confidential legal helpline and crisis support to help you protect your reputation, as a trusted contractor

For example:

• you’re investigated by HMRC for tax discrepancies and need to pay court fees
• a casual labourer sues you for unfair dismissal, and you need to pay for legal representation

Read more about legal expenses insurance

Personal accident insurance

In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at work or off-duty.

What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?

• accidental injury or death at work or elsewhere, for anyone covered on the policy
• lost income, medical costs and hospitalisation benefit

For example:

• you lose a finger while working on site
• the apprentice you’ve hired breaks their leg on a night out

Read more about personal accident insurance