Tradesman Insurance

According to Alcumus, on average 1 in every 3 construction workers are electrocuted each year during refurbishment work on commercial and domestic buildings, and this extends to tradesmen who work near overhead power lines and cables. There is also a growing number of plumbers, joiners and decorators who carry out electrical work as part of their projects, but face electrocution due to not being qualified or understanding the dangers of working with electricity. Along with power tool malfunctions that cause burns, psychological damage and sometimes, even death, electricity is not an element to take lightly.

With the diverse range of activities that go on during your working day, the likelihood of both your clients and team members slipping, tripping and falling is extremely high. Whether it’s caused by liquid spills, hazardous chemicals, insufficiently stored stock, materials and equipment or even scaffolding and holes in the ground, these hazards can cause pain, injuries and even hospitalisation, which will require compensation on your part.

Improper precautions when it comes to working at height could lead to unnecessary risks including a higher rate of fatalities. Even from low heights of a metre, broken bones, loss of consciousness and objects falling from above can leave you and your employees out of action for quite some time. Along with deterioration of the structure itself and uneven edges and structures at varying heights, there’s a lot of opportunity to severely hurt yourself up there.

If you work regularly with hand-held or hand-guided power tools such as concrete breakers, sanders, disc cutters and chainsaws, then you risk damage to your nerves, blood vessels and joints in the hands, wrists and arms, not to mention loss of fingers. This type of life-changing injury may stop you continuing your trade, and therefore you should always try to be as careful as possible. Taking note of safety instructions, disconnecting tools when not in use and maintaining your tools with care is always a good start, as is wearing appropriate clothing.

Working as a tradesman often means working outdoors, making weather conditions an important factor in your work environment. High winds and gusts can be unpredictable, taking you off guard and blowing your tools around. Slippery surfaces because of rain can lead to slips, trips and falls, especially if you’re not wearing the right footwear. Hot weather can also lead to heat stroke, heat exhaustion and heat rash. Nature can truly take its toll.

Especially significant for builders and contractors, moving plant and machinery can be a dangerous health and safety hazard, causing injuries including: body parts can get trapped between rollers, belts and pulley drives; sharp edges can cause cuts, severing injuries, stabbing and puncturing of the skin, as well as friction and abrasion; people can be crushed between moving parts, between a fixed part of a machine and wall, and even between two parts moving past each-other, causing shearing. Having an impact on both physical and mental health, they can all truly take their toll.

Tradesman Public Liability Insurance covers you if you accidentally injure a member of the public, or damage their property. This could happen through various means; a client trips over a toolbox; someone gets hurt during a renovation; you accidentally damage a property’s existing fixtures and fittings; you destroy their property due to a malfunctioning tool. If a claim is made against you, tradesman public liability insurance will cover the legal and compensation costs you are required to pay, and we can source cover as standard from £1 to £5 million, with higher limits available upon request.

Product Liability Insurance covers you should a product you have sold, supplied or installed causes unexpected personal injury or personal damage. If you own a catering business for example, a foreign object could be accidentally cooked in the food you’ve sold, causing a customer to choke or require medical assistance should they be allergic. If you’re a plumber, you could face a lawsuit if the pipe you claimed to have fixed causes flooding. Whatever the circumstance, you could be deemed legally responsible if you or your business repaired or altered the product, or if your business’s name is on the product. Product Liability Insurance covers you against these lawsuits and pays out compensation up to the limit on your policy.

You may be as careful as they come, and follow every safety precaution, but all it takes is a few loose bricks, a faulty wire or piece of equipment for an employee to become seriously hurt. Your employees help to make your business the success it is, and therefore deserve to be compensated should they suffer an injury. It is a legal requirement for you to have at least £5 million cover to compensate your staff for any bodily injury, mental injury or other claims made against you, even if they are part-time employees. Employers’ Liability for tradesman comes with £10 million standard indemnity cover, so you know that you’re protected.

Professional Indemnity Insurance covers the legal costs and damages you may be required to pay out if a client takes legal action against you, due to an error you have made. Whether you’ve given bad advice or created a poor design, Professional Indemnity Insurance covers you against this, as well as professional negligence and loss of confidential data. The smallest mistake can leave you open to the largest of claims, so it’s never worth taking the risk.

Tools and Business Equipment Insurance protects you against any theft and damage, so that should the unexpected happen, you won’t lose money paying for replacements. Theft and damage can delay projects or mean you can’t complete jobs to the highest of standards, or worse still, stop you doing your work until you can afford new tools. If your tools and equipment have been taken after a break-in, from your van, or even been damaged on the job, Tools and Business Equipment Insurance can cover the replacement costs and help you to get back to work as soon as possible.

Your safety is important to us, and therefore, it should be important to you too. Personal Accident Insurance provides compensation for accidents that include:

• Loss of limbs or sight.
• Permanent total disablement.
• Temporary total disablement.
• Temporary partial disablement.
• Death.

We can help cover the cost of medical expenses, making the road to recovery as comfortable as possible. Covering you financially, you’ll receive either a lump sum or weekly benefit. Your trade doesn’t have to suffer, and neither do you.

Every carpenter, cleaner and contractor is different, but many rely on their cleaning supplies, timber, wood, joists and rafters, among other stock and materials, to carry out their work. Ingredients, plants and paints are just as important to caterers, gardeners and painters and decorators, as are wires, connectors and power supplies to electricians. Imagine how difficult your job would be without the stock and materials that make your projects successful, and how stressful it would be should they be stolen, damaged. Whether you’re looking to protect your stock or take out cover for your all-important materials, we can source cover so that they are always kept safe, and provide compensation for any losses.

You work hard for your money, so it can be pretty hard-going when it goes missing, or is stolen via unexpected, forceful or even violent means. To us, it doesn’t matter if you lose £200 or £2000, we’ll work tirelessly to give you your money back, so that business operations can continue as normal. Loss of Money covers you against these losses to maintain your financial stability, and ensure you’re never left out of pocket.

We can source cover for: money stolen during business hours; money stolen while in a bank night safe; money stolen while locked in a safe; money stolen while not in a locked safe while closed; and money stolen while in transit.

Legal Expenses Insurance ensures that you are financially covered should legal action be taken against you, or by you. Covering everything from legal and tax advice through to contract and debt recovery, Legal Expenses Insurance also covers costs incurred due to court dates, trials and representation. With employment tribunals also costing in the thousands, insurance through us means your business never has to suffer due to costly cases.

If you operate from a premises such as a yard or unit where you complete some of your work you may want to consider business interruption insurance. Designed to cover your business against any loss of income, Business Interruption Insurance can pay out for loss of gross profit, as well as for the costs and expenses incurred to reduce the impact on your gross profit, subject to your insurers specific terms and conditions. Our sourced policies typically covers:

• Profit: Any profits that would have been earned during the time you aren’t operational.
• Disruption: Any power, telecommunications and water disruption costs caused by service providers.
• Fixed costs: Any ongoing and continuous operating costs that you incur even though the business is not operating, which is based upon historical cost reports.
• Temporary location: The expenses you may suffer due to having to relocate or operate from a temporary location.
• Some additional expenses: With the reimbursement of ‘reasonable expenses’ that enable the business to continue its operations whilst the property is being repaired.

Contract Works Insurance not only protects you against events that stop you from fulfilling a contract, but also covers you financially should you need to carry out works again due to unexpected damage.

This cover can include:

• The work in progress: Covers the work in progress up to the handover point when you cease to be responsible.
• The building materials being used in the project: Any materials that were used during the project, session or works.
• Any temporary buildings: Including any site huts, portable toilets, fixtures and fittings.
• Your plant, machinery, tools and equipment

Paying out compensation, Contract Works Insurance ensures you keep your pristine reputation and that your clients don’t suffer any losses due to delays or disruption as a result of an unforeseen event such as a fire of flood.