What liability insurance does a blind installer need?

Blind installation can involve risks that may not be immediately apparent. Therefore it’s always important to be properly insured. Of course, you will want to make sure your cover reflects the unique nature of what you do.

When is it a legal requirement to have liability insurance?

If you have any employees, including part-time staff, admin and clerical staff, and trainees, then you are legally required to have employers’ liability insurance. This protects you if an employee suffers harm while working for you.

It’s important to note that some sub-contractors may also be classified as ‘employees’ for insurance purposes. If you’re not sure, you should speak to your insurance company. You can be fined £2,500 if you don’t have cover when you should.

When am I contractually required to have liability insurance?

This will depend on the individual contracts you have with different clients. However, you may find that larger clients and public sector organisations require you to have public liability insurance as a standard term of their contracts.

Public liability insurance protects you should something you do cause injury to a third party or damage to their property. This covers all sorts of situations, such as members of the public who happen to be injured due to an accident for which you are liable.

If you’re found to be at fault by a court, the damages, compensation, and legal fees can quickly add up to thousands or hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Is there any other type of liability insurance that I must have?

If you provide professional advice to clients, then you might want to consider professional indemnity insurance.

Professional indemnity cover protects you if the advice you provide about things like design or specifications turns out to be wrong and causes a financial loss for the client.

You should also consider insurance for your tools so that, if they get damaged, lost or stolen, you can quickly replace them and get back to work.

There may be other types of insurance you need that are specific to what you do. If you’re not sure what you need, it’s always worth contacting your insurance company.