Tradesmens: Electricians Insurance

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Electricians and Electrical Contractors Insurance

According to the Health & Safety Executive, there are around 2,000 workplace accidents involving electricity annually, with around 20 workers dying as a result.

In another chilling statistic, the HSE reckon that every week six electricians die from asbestos-related disease.

Other health risks electricians' face includes asthma and chronic lung disease, shock, burns, muscle damage and, if you work in wall-chasing, Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome.

Whether you call yourself a sole trader, self employed electrician or electrical contractor, you'll probably want a belt and braces insurance policy to cover the risks you face on a daily basis. Tradesman cover gets tailored to your electricians trade risks to make the policy relevant to your needs.

Policies have set cover, optional extras and add-ons, for example:

• Public Liability Insurance
• Employers Liability Insurance (Optional)
• Tools & Equipment Insurance (Optional)
• Products Liability (Extension)

Public Liability Insurance

When working with electricity, there are obvious dangers to you, the general public as well as to property.

PLI covers you for unintentional damage or injury to others. It covers legal liability to pay compensation for death, injury or property damage and the legal costs if you are to blame.

The cost of policies reflect the risks involved in the type of electrical work you undertake. The best quote for your needs may not be the cheapest one but one that provides maximum business flexibility if you work for yourself.

Range of Work

A good insurer knows your trade and will want to know type of property you work on (domestic, commercial or industrial) and understand your business activities, such as:

• electrical installation
• burglar alarms
• heat and ventilation
• testing and certification
• aerial erection
• plumbing
• computer cabling

Employers Liability Insurance

Self employed sole traders who work alone without employees won't need ELI.

However, by directly employing an assistant or apprentice legally you may be required to have employers liability insurance.

ELI is mandatory cover designed to meet the costs of compensating employees (plus paying their legal costs) if they are injured or made ill at work because of their employment. The legal minimum cover is currently (2011) £5 million.

Exemptions exist for family businesses (unless a limited company) and companies employing only their owner (who owns half or more) of the company.

Product Liability Insurance

Product you supply must be "fit for purpose", otherwise if someone suffers injury, illness, loss or damage because of them you could be held legally liable.

So wiring, switches, light fittings, heaters, fuse-boxes, alarm systems, etc must be 'fit' to be covered.

Products liability cover may help you defend a claim for dangerous, defective or faulty products made or sold by you up to a maximum value each year.

Tools Insurance

Should the unthinkable happen and your tools are lost or damaged, then tools insurance helps you get back to work quickly.

Insured risks often include: the loss of, or damage to powered & non-powered hand held tools, plus hired or leased tools and the theft from a secured vehicle.

Replacement is often to the condition when new if not repairable and there may be an excess on any claim.

Cost of Insurance

Policies are priced based on level of risk, so questions are designed to helt the insurer quickly calculate the cost.

If Testing and Certification makes up more than 25% of your work, you'll usually pay a higher premium, ditto if you do a lot of security system installation - you may want to make sure you're covered for product failure.

Insurers usually want to know if you carry out any hotwork i.e. welding on or off site, and if you use blow lamps.

Other factors taken into consideration are if you carry out work at height outdoors, and specifically at what height (e.g. above three storeys). Many insurers place height restrictions on electrical work and exclude external aerial work from a policy.

Industrial premises or buildings above four storeys are often ruled out because of the increased risk of a more expensive claim.

You'll usually need to tell them if you work at hazardous locations such as power stations.

Specialist Cover

Specialist cover is usually needed for Testing and Certification or installation of security systems.

If you install alarms, they need to know the type of premises e.g. hotels, hospitals, care homes and whether you issue test certificates and the type of certificates (e.g. fire alarm systems, emergency lighting).

If you fit alarms fire/intruder alarm systems, door entry, voice systems and fire extinguishers pay close attention to the small print in your public liability policy.

Check if there's an efficacy exclusion i.e. malfunction of a product. Some insurers won't cover product failure (e.g. a fire alarm). If there's a fire, say, and the fire alarm doesn't go off, you could be wholly liable for any damage or injury.

Guild of Master Craftsmen

The Guild of Master Craftsmen trade association (http://www.guildmc.com) represents many different trades and professions.

As a member you can access a range of professional services, including advice on insurance.

As well as credit vetting procedures, The Guild operates a debt collection service to make sure you get paid for the work you do, and a conciliation service to settle customer disputes.

Electrical Contractors' Association (ECA)

The Electrical Contractors' Association (ECA) represents the interests of contractors who design, inspect, test, install and maintain electrical and electronic equipment and services.

Their subsidiary The Electrical Contractors' Insurance Company Limited (ECIC) provides insurance products for contractors of all sizes.

Policy holders can access a free 24-hour help line for legal advice on business issues.

Electrade is designed for small electrical contractor businesses with up to 7 manual workers and turnover of £500,000 or under.

Policy features:

• Public and product liability - £1m, £2m or £5m
• Testing inspection and certification, property worked upon and compensation for court attendance extensions
• Optional Employers' Liability (£10m), contractors' all risks, tools, personal accident

ECIC can also insure work on fire or intruder alarm systems or other specialist installations, as well as work in hazardous environments.

Contractors' Liability Policy for electrical, heating, ventilation and air conditioning contractors (HVAC).

Policy features:

• Public and product liability cover - up to 10 million pounds
• Trade specific professional negligence, financial loss, alarm efficacy and property worked on extensions
• Optional Employers' Liability Insurance - up to £10m

Contractors' All Risks (CAR) covers your contract work, with automatic cover for site huts and other temporary accommodation. Policy features:

• plant and equipment
• unfixed materials
• debris removal
• professional fees
• plans and documents
• immobilised plant and emergency hiring insurance

Professional Indemnity (PI)

ECIC's PI policy protects electrical contractors against errors relating to design, supervision of construction, testing or maintenance.

The indemnity limit ranges from 250,000 pounds aggregate to 5 million pounds for any single claim.