Public liability insurance for health and safety consultants

In case your consultancy causes an injury, illness or property damage.

What’s typically covered by public liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• damage to someone’s property
• injury or illness caused by your health and safety consultancy
• accidental damage or injury caused by your employees, if you have any

For example:

• during a hotel inspection, you accidentally spill coffee over an expensive rug, which will need to be replaced
• while on a customer audit, you leave your box of equipment on the floor and someone trips over it, fracturing their jaw

What you’ll need additional cover for

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

Read more about public liability insurance

Employers’ liability insurance

In case something happens to an employee while working for your consultancy.

What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• an injury or illness that comes as a result of working for you (including temps and casual workers)

**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:

• an employee is injured while visiting a customer site, and didn’t have the right hi vis and protective equipment
• your assistant gets ill after visiting a site without the necessary dust mask and other protection

Health and safety professional indemnity insurance

In case there’s a claim for breaches in your duty of care, or defamation.

What’s typically covered by professional indemnity insurance?

Claims against your health and safety consultancy for professional negligence or a loss-causing breach of contract. This can include:

• advice which turns out to be incorrect
• mistakes in your work that cost others money to fix

For example:

• you advise your client that they should adhere to some out-of-date health and safety legislation, and they get a fine
• a customer puts some of your advised measures in place, but the council deems these as insufficient – another review is needed, costing the customer more money

Read more about professional indemnity insurance

Business and office equipment insurance

In case things like your phone or tablet 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 business
• operational equipment like your laptop, office printer and phone

For example:

• your laptop, which contains multiple client reports, is stolen from your business premises
• while carrying out a school inspection you drop your tablet from a height, damaging it beyond repair

Read more about business and office equipment insurance

Tools insurance

In case your tools are lost, stolen or damaged.

What’s typically covered by tools insurance?

• loss, damage or theft of your specialist professional tools and equipment

For example:

• you’re carrying out an assessment at a dental clinic and a patient knocks your tool kit onto the floor, damaging the contents
• while commuting on the underground you miss your stop, jumping off at the next station and leaving your tool kit on the train

Read more about tools insurance

Legal expenses insurance

In case you and your consultancy face legal costs.

What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?

• legal costs attributed to your consultancy
• property damage, nuisance or trespass – specifically, the associated legal claims and compensation payouts
• tax and compliance disputes and investigations you need help with
• access to expert advice – including a tax advice phone line, confidential 24/7 legal phone line, and crisis support to help you protect your reputation, as a respected health and safety consultant

For example:

• HMRC wants to take you to court for paying tax incorrectly, and you need to pay the legal costs involved
• a client is querying and refusing to pay an invoice and you end up taking them to court, with significant initial costs

Read more about legal expenses insurance

Personal accident insurance

In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at work or elsewhere.

What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?

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

For example:

• you slip on a wet floor in the train station and break your ankle, meaning you won’t be able to make in-person site visits for at least two months
• your business partner injures their back while on holiday and needs an operation, plus time off 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 health and safety consultants 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 contractors insurance or self employed insurance?

Do I need cover for other types of work?

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

• Consultant – fire safety
• Fire proofing consultant
• Freelance insurance
• Consultant insurance
• Energy assessors’ insurance
• Environmental consultants’ 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.