Engineering insurance

Public liability insurance for engineering businesses

In case someone is injured or their property gets damaged, because of your engineering business.

What’s typically covered by public liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• damage to someone’s property, because of your work
• an injury caused by your business activities
• accidental damage or injury caused by your employees

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

For example:

• while working on a client’s heating system you fall off your stepladder, damaging some of the pipework
• you leave your toolbox on the pavement while speaking to the client and a jogger trips over it, breaking their ankle

Read more about public liability insurance

Employers’ liability insurance

In case something happens to an employee while they’re working for your engineering business.

What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• an employee, including a temp or casual worker, suing you after getting injured because of working for you, or
• making a claim for an injury they’ve suffered through 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:

• your employee suffers a head injury while on site with a client, and claims you haven’t provided the appropriate safety equipment
• a temp you’ve hired trips over your tool box, breaking an arm

Professional indemnity insurance for engineering businesses

In case you make an error, or your services don’t meet the expected standards.

What’s typically covered by professional indemnity insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• professional negligence or breach of contract, causing your client to suffer a financial loss, such as:
• advice you’ve given which turns out to be incorrect
• other errors in your engineering which end up costing your client money

For example:

• you give advice which turns out to be incorrect, causing your client to buy several materials which will need to be sent back
• an engineer on your team fails to plan a heating system installation properly, leading to increased costs for your client

Read more about professional indemnity insurance

Tools insurance

In case your tools are lost, stolen or damaged.

What’s typically covered by tools insurance for engineering businesses?

• loss, damage or theft of your engineering tools and equipment

For example:

• your tool kit is stolen from your van while you’re parked on site
• a fire in your garage damages your team’s supply of calipers

Read more about tools insurance

Business and office equipment insurance

In case something happens to your operational equipment, like your laptop.

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

• theft of the equipment you use to run your business, while at work or out and about
• accidental loss, flood, fire or damage to your equipment

For example:

• your tablet is stolen during an office break-in, along with your new printer and cartridge shipment
• while meeting with a client you drop your phone from a height, damaging it beyond repair

Read more about business and office equipment insurance

Legal expenses insurance

In case you’re faced with legal costs from running your business.

What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?

• legal expenses resulting from your day-to-day consultancy activities, like an employee dispute
• the cost of making or receiving legal claims relating to property damage, nuisance or trespass
• HMRC investigations, or tax and compliance disputes
• includes a tax advice helpline, a 24/7 confidential legal helpline and crisis support to help you protect your reputation as a trusted engineer

For example:

• one of your employees brings a claim against you, disputing their working hours
• a group of trespassers are routinely meeting on your premises at night, and you take legal action

Read more about legal expenses insurance

Personal accident insurance

In case you or anyone you’ve covered has an accident, at work or off-duty.

What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?

• injury or death outside of work, for anyone covered by the policy
• lost income, medical costs and hospitalisation benefit

For example:

• you damage your eye while working on site
• one of your employees breaks an arm while running a half marathon, and needs two weeks off active work

Read more about personal accident insurance

Can I just cover my most expensive tools?

Make sure you cover the total cost of replacing all your tools or you’ll only get a proportion of your claim paid out if something happens to them. Learn about tool cover.

Which type of workers do I need insurance for?

Employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement if you employ people.

If you have people working for you, including bona fide subcontractors (BFSC), labour-only subcontractors (LOSC), part-timers, or full-time staff, employers’ liability insurance is required by law.

Read on for our simplified guide to the difference between labour-only subcontractors and bona fide subcontractors.

Will tools insurance cover all my equipment?

Depending on what you use to do your work, you may need other covers.

You may need more than tools insurance – for example, business equipment insurance if you have a work laptop, plant insurance if you use machinery.

Does engineering business insurance cover my work correctly?

Make sure you’re picking the right cover to protect you properly. It’s important to know that if you have another trade or job, you’ll need additional cover. For example, do you need to consider electrical engineer insurance or engineering consultant insurance?

Do I need cover for other types of work?

If you provide other services, make sure you’re covered:

• Civil engineering insurance
• Electrical engineer insurance
• Engineers – project management
• Mechanical engineering insurance
• Professional indemnity insurance for engineering consultants
• Heating engineer insurance
• Refrigeration engineers insurance

Other types of insurance

• Limited company insurance
• Self-employed insurance
• Freelance insurance
• Consultant insurance
• Contractors insurance
• Sole trader insurance

Which public liability cover limit should I choose?

Think about the maximum possible loss your business could face in the event of a claim, and make sure you take legal fees and damages into consideration. You can choose from three levels of coverage – £1 million, £2 million, or up to £5 million.