Understanding Liability Insurance

Public Liability Insurance

Public Liability Insurance covers against any legal liabilities arising from any bodily injury or property damage caused by you to a third party.  Like Professional Indemnity insurance, it is not mandatory for archaeologists to have Public Liability Insurance.

However, legal costs and compensation payments can be very large if, for example a member of the public were to die or become injured as a result of your work / activities.  Think of the fees, the costs and the expenses incurred during a coroner’s inquest, for example.  Again, you will do your very best to make sure that such serious accidents do not occur during the course of your work, but again, mistakes can be made – so it is a good idea to have Public Liability Insurance to protect you and your business.  Slips and trips don’t sound very serious, but they could kill your business.

Again, think about the sort of level of cover you need in terms of the maximum claim which could be made against your business.  Do large numbers of people visit your ‘attraction’? Heritage sites can be very busy and potentially dangerous. 

Products Liability

Products Liability might not apply to your business if you are not selling, manufacturing or designing goods for sale.  But if you are, claims for injury as a result of what could be perceived to be faulty or defective goods bought from you would again be costly.  Often Products Liability is provided along with Public Liability for no additional cost.

Employers’ Liability Insurance

Employers’ Liability Insurance is mandatory.  If you employ people (including volunteers) you must have at least £5m of cover and you must display your Employers’ Liability Insurance Certificate at the location where you employ people.  Again, you are covering legal fees and costs arising from slips and trips – even disease and death arising from your work.

What is required for a Professional Indemnity Insurance quote?

Professional Indemnity Insurance is priced according to the insurer's perception of the risk!  In order to ascertain this there is usually a proposal form which will ask some fairly standard questions including:

• Last year's turnover
• Predicted turnover for the coming year
• Details of the qualifications and experience of your principal staff
• Turnover by territory if working outside of the UK
• Total wageroll cost
• Wageroll split according to clerical and manual workers
• Names of your largest 3 clients and the value to you of their contracts 

You will  be asked to provide a full description of your business activities and examples of client contracts may be requested.  Your compliance with things like the Health and Safety at Work act will be tested and you could be asked to provide copies of risk assessments where hazardous activities are undertaken.

Of course, we will assist you in providing all of the required information and indeed, we will already have access to some of it though researching your website, viewing your premises on Google Earth and by researching your business at Companies House - so the onus is not all on you!

If you would like to receive a copy of our standard PI proposal form so that you can be sure that you gathering the right information, please get in touch and we can email it to you!

Call me to discuss on 02082550617 / 07768 865983.

http://www.archaeology-insurance.co.uk/

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Is Professional Indemnity Insurance Mandatory for Archaeologists?

Professional Indemnity Insurance is not a legal mandatory requirement, but many industry bodies and business sectors require it, for example, engineering, surveying and accountancy.  In addition, many professionals working on a contract basis will need PI insurance in order to be awarded contracts – Archaeologists and Archaeological businesses are likely to fall into this category.

Where you are providing advice, services or designs to a client, PI insurance will protect you against legal costs and compensation potentially resulting from your actions:

• Professional negligence (including poor advice or mistakes)
• Defamation and libel
• Loss of documents and  / or data
• Unintentional breach of copyright and / or confidentiality
• Loss of goods and / or money (your own or your client’s for which you are responsible)

Of course, your strive to provide the very best service, but, unfortunately, there is always a chance that you or one of your team might make a mistake.

With PI insurance you are insuring against the possibility of having to pay out thousands of pounds in compensation and legal fees to defend a claim – as well as the opportunity cost of time spent defending the allegations.

Do you need professional indemnity insurance?

If you provide your clients with advice or services, then yes.  Most archaeological consultancies do have PI insurance.  Most organisations engaging your services will require you to have PI insurance.

What limit of professional indemnity do I need?

If a specific contract requires PI insurance, it's likely that your client will specify a minimum amount.

Otherwise, you industry body may suggest a minimum requirement.  If not, it is worth considering a worst case scenario which might occur if you make a mistake in a piece of client work for a client.  In UK legal fees can be huge, and your client may incur additional losses too.  Levels of cover range from £100,000 and upwards.  Call me to discuss on 02082550617 / 07768 865983.

http://www.archaeology-insurance.co.uk/

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