Why does a joiner need liability insurance?
If a joiner has a workshop where the public do not enter, then some have asked why they need public liability insurance.
As a joiner, you may not have contact with the public throughout your normal working day, however there are still points of greater risk to your business. Delivering stand-alone items of joinery creates one point of contact; working on a building site during stage fixes is another. Whatever type of work you do, there are inherent risks that could lead to incidents that end with someone claiming damages from you.
You may get on with others or perhaps you don’t see many other trades on site. However we see many claims between tradesmen when things go wrong - from the effects of your work when on site and after you’ve left, to general accidents in the work place.
If you specialise in smaller pieces of carpentry (furniture, decorative pieces etc) then you will experience more issues during commission and delivery, as these will be the main points of contact.
You may also receive claims related to the use of your work after delivery. One example for a joiner is if a garden seat you made collapsed and someone hurt their back, you might face a claim for years of lost earnings and medical treatments. Whether it happened because of your design, a mistake in your work/materials or because of something that happened since delivery would be hard to prove after the fact. The legal battle alone could cost tens of thousands of pounds. With public liability insurance, you are normally covered for up to £50,000 of legal fees. In our experience, this has always been enough.
If you hire additional staff, you are required by law to have employers liability insurance. This protects you and your staff in the event that they need money because they can’t work following accidents or work related illness.
- For more information read the employers liability fact sheet or what is liability insurance.
- Why not try our liability insurance system for trades
- Help with our system can also be found in our liability insurance help menu
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- For more information read the employers liability fact sheet or what is liability insurance.
- Why not try our liability insurance comparison system for tradesmen or professionals
- Help with our system can also be found in our liability insurance help menu