If you are a high risk tradesman, such as a ground-worker, roofer or scaffolder, that undertakes high risk work, it is important that you have the right insurance cover in place to protect your employees, the public and, ultimately, your own business.

Each tradesman or construction project will have different insurance needs and we aim to ensure you are adequately insured to protect, and benefit, your business.

Public and employers’ liability insurance are two key insurance covers.

Public liability insurance covers the cost of pay-outs and legal fees if your business is sued by a third party and provides cover on and off your business premises.  You may want to consider this cover if customers enter your business premises, you work on client’s property or if you work in public areas and could potentially cause damage to a third party. The level of public liability cover you will depend on your occupation and the size of your contract but will often have cover limits of £1m, £2m, £5m or £10m.  Costs of claims are high as public liability will cover the third party’s loss of earnings, care/medical costs, damage to property and more.

Employers’ liability insurance covers you and your business against the cost of claims from employees due to illness or injury caused during their employment with you. Employer’s liability is especially key for high risk trades such as scaffolders and roofers where the average injury is far greater. Employers’ liability is a legal requirement for any business that has employees (subject to certain exemption such as close family members as employees). The minimum level of cover is £5m but can be increased to £10m.  You can incur daily fines of up to £2500 for failure to have the required employers’ liability insurance.

Local authority projects or large construction projects can often require increased limits of indemnity and even require unrestricted height and depth indemnity.  Making sure you have the required cover could mean increased access to work contracts.

Different tradesman may seek different extensions of cover, for example, an arborist or tree surgeon may want his insurance cover to include his tools; a landscaper may want his insurance cover to include hired-in plant and machinery, or, a demolition company may want his insurance to include hazardous waste.  Our polices can often be tailored to include the desired cover bringing all your insurance needs under one policy which is time efficient.  Policies that combine your insurance needs are known as comprehensive combined policies and are often the best way to take care of most high risk tradesman and construction projects.

If you are business that provides a professional service or gives advice, and legal action could be taken against you if your client is unhappy with your work, then you may also need to consider Professional Indemnity insurance.

We can offer you specialised insurance expertise to make a risk management assessment, regarding the optimum coverage along with the appropriate limits of indemnity, for high risk tradesman and construction projects, at competitive premiums. Clegg Gifford, as a Lloyd’s broker have access to a range of specialist insurers allowing us to be flexible with coverage terms that best suit you.