Landscape Gardeners & Tree Surgeons

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Landscape Gardeners, Tree Surgeons & Arboricultural Contractors

Tree surgeons, arborists and arboricultural contractors carry out tree maintenance (pruning, bracing, fertilising) and tree felling, pest and disease identification and control, you could also be called on give advice.

Landscape Gardeners and Tree Surgeons

You could be a general contractor carrying out tree planting and landscape works for other businesses, or a small jobbing gardener doing general garden maintenance work for your own clients.

For tree surgeons and landscape gardners, the work can physically demanding and tree felling in particular can be noisy and result in hearing loss. The use of chainsaws is particularly dangerous and can result in serious accidents and even death.

Exposure to sawdust and fumes from tools, pesticides and fertilisers can cause long-term health problems, too.

A standard tradesman insurance policy often won't be sufficient if you carry out tree maintenance, tree felling or use pesticides other than on a small domestic garden scale.

If you need to hire in plant check that either the hire company's insurance scheme includes theft or your policy does, otherwise if plant is stolen, you could be wholly liable for the cost of replacement.

Restrictions

Always read the fine print on restrictions your insurer places on where you can work (eg rail track verges, airports), and the height and depth you can work at.

Check that the insurance covers fencing work if you include this in your landscaping contracts as well as chemical applications.

You could also find that as well as height restrictions, there will be limits on the depth you can work at, e.g. below 1 metre, which could influence decisions on stump removal.

Heat work and burning debris

If you carry out heat work and/or burning of debris on site, let your insurer know and make sure you follow health and safety guidance and have strict fire prevention measures in place.

If your contracts include work airside at airports, rail trackside/powerline vegetation clearance, make sure you're insured for these hazardous locations or you won't be covered in the event of a claim.

Make sure everyone who works for you, not only employees but self-employed workers, labour-only sub-contractors and casual workers are covered by your liability insurance.

Arboricultural consultants

Arboricultural consultants will provide professional advice for a fee on issues ranging from estate management, tree preservation orders, mortgage reports or public safety investigations for local authorities.

Providing negligent advice - on a tree conditions report for a mortgage, say - could cost you thousands of pounds in a compensation claim, so professional indemnity insurance is important to cover you from any unintentional error, omission or neglect on your part.

The Arboricultural Association is the largest membership organisation representing care of trees in streets, parks or private gardens in the UK.

Approved contractor members must have a minimum of £5m Professional Indemnity cover. Members enjoy discounted insurance rates through Arbinsure from independent insurance brokers Bartlett who are featured elsewhere on their website.

The Forestry Contracting Association (FCA Membership Ltd) is the leading trade association for contractors working in the UK forestry and wood related industries.

Do I Need Insurance?

This depends on your attitude to risk and what could go wrong, your client/contractors requirements on you, whether you have employees.

Risks include:

• While burning tree debris on site, a fire spreads out of control and destroys neighbouring woodland
• An employee is badly hurt in a chain saw accident
• You submit a flawed tree conditions report for mortgage purposes and are subsequently sued for negligence

Landscape Gardener's, Tree Surgeon's &
Arboriculture Consultant Insurance

Direct Line Tradesman Insurance

Direct Line's new Tradesman Insurance is designed for established professional tradesmen and craftsmen with up to 10 manual employees.

Just a small mishap to jeopardize a self employed person's ability to earn an income. The Direct Line's Tradesman Insurance protects you in such situations, providing a comprehensive standard policy. This gives up to £1m public liability cover, with option to increase up to £5 million and add additional covers such as employers liability cover and tools.

Heath Lambert

Landscape Gardening Contractors Insurance

Independent insurance brokers Heath Lambert have been providing insurance to large and small landscaping businesses for over 30 years. Based in London, they have branch offices throughout the UK.

They offer specialist insurance designed for businesses providing landscape gardening services and provide cover for reclamation work and erosion control as well as garden centres and nurseries.

We couldn't access policy details online but they do claim to insure activities other insurers restrict or turn down.

They can also cover you for:

• motor fleet
• professional indemnity
• credit insurance

At heathlambert.com you can fill in an online enquiry form and they'll call you back.

Arborplan

Specially designed for Arboricultural and Forestry Contractors and Consultants, Arborplan policies are only available through Surrey-based Bryant Kesek and Partners.

It was one of their partners - Richard Bryant - who introduced the first UK insurance scheme for Arboricultural Contractors back in 1983.

Arborplan also covers other activities such as landscape gardening, maintenance gardening, hedging, fencing and patio laying.

Policy features:

• Public and products liability - £2m or £5m (higher levels available)
• Employers liability
• Professional indemnity - £250,000, £500,000, £750,000 or £1m for any one claim, with no restriction on the number of claims during the insurance period
• Plant and equipment (inc. harvesters, forwarders and other forestry equipment)
• Personal accident

Optional extras:

• Hired-in plant and equipment
• Continuing hire charges following loss or damage to plant & equipment
• Cost of hiring in replacement plant & equipment if yours is lost or damaged
• Cost of insuring temporary plant & equipment

Approved contractor members of the Arboricultural Association get a discount of at least 15%, on an Arborplan policy, with discounts also available to members of the following association:

• Forestry and Timber Association
• Tree Care Industry Association
• Forestry Contractors Association
• International Society of Arboriculture

visit arborplan.co.uk

Bartlett

Tree Surgeons Insurance

Established in1940 and with their HQ based in Leeds, independent insurance brokers Bartlett offer a specialist insurance package for tree surgeons or arborists with no work at height restrictions.

It gets the thumbs up from the Arboricultural Association, and as long as you don't make a claim in the first 12 months, they offer a guaranteed 2-year fixed rate.

Policy features:

• Employers liability £10m
• Public liability £5m or £10m
• Contractors All Risks
• Plant/Equipment/Employees Tools
• Low excesses
• New for old on items under £2,000

Optional extras:

• Professional indemnity
• Property damage & business interruption
• Personal Accident
• Legal helpline and expenses
• Engineering inspection
• Individual vehicles/ Fleet
• Directors & Officers

visit: arbinsure.co.uk

Camberford Law

Kent-based Camberford Law plc offer a specialist scheme for tree surgeons, landscapers, arboricultural and forestry contractors.

High level work including the use of chainsaws, fencing, chemical application and landscape gardening work as well as arboricultural work are included.

Policy features

• Employers Liability - up to £10m
• Public/Products Liability - up to £10m
• Professional Indemnity - up to £1m for written reports
• Legal expenses
• Plant and equipment
• Personal accident

Optional extras:

• Hired-in plant cover

visit: camberfordlaw.co.uk