When you are in a position where you need to get insurance cover for the work you do, it is important to consider the risks that could affect you in your line of work and work out what type of cover and how much of it you will need based on the most appropriate protection available to meet your requirements. There are two types of insurance cover that people often get mixed up and often get confused about. These are Public Liability and Professional Indemnity. Although both of these types of insurance protect you and your business, they are actually designed to offer different forms of protection under different circumstances.
One of the key differences between them is around the type of the work that you carry out. If a third party suffers injury or damage to their property as a direct result of any physical work you undertake then Public Liability would protect you, whereas Professional Indemnity would protect you for third party injury or damage if the risk is linked to your professional duty when providing design, advice or a service for a fee.
To help clarify these two types of insurance we have decided to give you detailed information on each. This should give you a better insight into which you will need. Some business may even need both.
What is Public Liability Insurance?
Public Liability insurance is there to protect your business against the financial risk of for death, bodily injury or damage to property suffered by any third party including members of the general public or other business you work with. As standard there are three levels of Public Liability cover; €1.3 million, €2.6 million & €6.5 million. If you feel it necessary you can request a higher amount of cover than these standard levels.
Examples of where you would be protected by Public Liability Insurance;
• A carpet fitter accidentally breaks an antique vase when bringing carpet into the house.
• A visitor, tripping over loose carpet in reception, twists their knee requiring surgery and months of physiotherapy.
• A plumber damages a pipe, which leaks into a business’s server room – not only causing thousands of eur