Health and safety insurance

Why do H&S consultants need professional indemnity insurance?

A hard hat and a clipboard can only offer so much protection. None at all when there’s legislation involved.

Your clients know this too and are expecting you to make sure they’re safe. The consequences of breaching health and safety law can be costly; for you and your client.

The fact is mistakes happen every day and, sooner or later, you could be faced with an irate client. Worse still, a negligence claim - or even just an allegation - won’t go away and is enough to scupper your business.

Professional indemnity for health and safety consultants helps by paying your legal defence costs, fixing what’s wrong, and compensating your client too.

Having it means you don’t need to be a legal expert or a limitless pot of money. You don’t need to worry about protecting your reputation either. You can just get on with doing what you do best: running your business.

How much professional indemnity insurance do I need?

There’s safety in numbers. Specifically, the numbers on your insurance.

In simple terms, the more cover you have, the more protection you have. Our advice is always to buy as much as you can afford. You just never know.

But, if you have one eye on the budget (and who doesn’t?), you might want to narrow it down a little. In that case, you need to think about what can go wrong, worst-case scenario. What sort of businesses do you work with? What industries are they in? Are they big or small? How much is your very biggest mistake likely to cost to put right?

We know it’s difficult. If it helps, have a read of this guide or call us if you need more help.

What does professional indemnity insurance cover?

Negligence claims and allegations made against you by clients and third parties, because of mistakes you’ve made and things you’ve failed to do.

Specifically (but depending on the policy wording):

• Defamation
• Intellectual property infringement
• Loss of documents or data
• Negligent misrepresentation or misstatement
• Employee dishonesty
• Virus transmission
• Breach of confidentiality
• Failure of third-party equipment

But that’s not all. Some professional indemnity policies can fix a mistake before your client is even aware of it, thereby preventing a claim in the first place.

Clever stuff.

Do I need public liability insurance?

It’s hard to evaluate risk without seeing it first-hand. It’s an unavoidable part of your business. All of which, ironically, increases your risk.

Health and safety consultants’ public liability insurance covers you if a third party (client, member of the public, anyone) accuses you of damaging property or injuring a person.

If there’s a claim against you, your policy pays your legal costs, fixes what’s wrong and compensates the injured person.

What else do I need?

Employers’ liability insurance covers your business if an employee sues it for damages. Claims are usually because they’ve suffered injuries and illnesses as a consequence of working for you. It’s a legal requirement for UK businesses with employees.

Office and property insurance covers the things in your office (furniture, plants, fixed IT equipment etc) and portable insurance covers gadgets and technical equipment away from the office (laptops, tablets, projectors etc). If you’re not sure it’s worth insuring, add it all up - it’s probably worth more than you think.

Business interruption insurance means you can still work when your office is out of action. Be it flood, fire or flea infestation, you’re covered for the costs of setting up elsewhere and for any lost revenue in that time.

Directors’ and officers’ insurance covers your company bosses. Anyone from regulators to shareholders to competitors can accuse you of not running a business with due care. Worse, directors are personally liable for their actions. The good thing is this insurance covers your defence costs and any compensation you have to pay. So you can put away your chequebook.

Why should I buy my insurance from you?

Glad you asked.

The simple answer is: we know what we’re doing. Professional insurance is all we do so we know what you need, even if you don’t.

We also know that buying insurance can be, well, a bit of a pain. So we make sure getting yours is quick and hassle-free.

We do all that while treating you like a human being, too. You won’t find a call centre here. Or a phone menu. And we’ve banned nonsense insurance jargon.

Anything else? Well, there’s the great stuff you get, such as an ‘I’m insured!’ badge for your website - perfect for the professional professional.

Also, we’ll give you money each time you recommend us.

If you’re after a second opinion, have a look at our customers’ feedback. They’re the ones you should really listen to.