What does electrician insurance cover?

If you are an electrician who works as a self-employed sole trader or small business, you should consider which insurance you might need. With a range of insurance products available, it is important to understand what you need before you buy.

In this video, part of our Public Liability FAQ series, we answer the question ‘What does electrician insurance cover?’.

What does electrician’s insurance include?

Different insurance providers may include slightly different products in their electricians’ insurance packages, so it helps to know what is included.

As a minimum, you should consider if your insurance should include:

• Public and product liability insurance 
• Employers’ liability insurance 
• Professional indemnity insurance 
• Insurance for your tools.

There may be others you need, but these are the key types. If you are in doubt, speak to your insurer.

What are public and product liability insurance?

Public liability insurance is designed to protect you and your business in the event something you do (or fail to do) causes injury to a third party (i.e. a customer or member of the public) or damages their property.

Product liability covers you if a product you supply or install (e.g. a smoke alarm) causes injury or damage.

Cover levels start at £1 million and rise to £10 million.

It’s important to have this cover because claims against you can amount to hundreds of thousands of pounds.

What does employers’ liability insurance cover?

Employer’s liability insurance covers you when a current or former employee successfully sues you for an injury or illness they sustained while working for you. 
You are legally obliged to have this insurance if you employ anyone. It may also be necessary to have cover if you have sub-contractors working for you.

Any business with one or more employees must have at least £5 million of employers’ liability cover. They must also display their insurance certificate (although there are some limited exceptions).

What does professional indemnity insurance cover?

Professional indemnity covers you if you provide professional advice which turns out to be wrong or negligent, resulting in a financial loss for a client or customer. This advice could be about design or how to operate equipment.

There is no required minimum amount of cover, but our small business policies start from £1 million in cover.

What will tools insurance cover?

Unsurprisingly, tools insurance should cover any loss of, or damage to, your powered and non-powered handheld portable tools.

How much cover you need will depend on you and the value of your equipment. Make sure the policy provides cover across 24 hours a day, seven days a week, anywhere in the UK.