The Importance Of Public Liability Cover For Tradesmen

One of our team was recently browsing his local newspaper when he came upon a court report of how a Judge ordered a tradesman to pay almost €10,000 to a client....

One of our team was recently browsing his local newspaper when he came upon a court report of how a Judge ordered a tradesman to pay almost €10,000 to a client. It involved a plumber who caused extensive water damage to a family home when a storage tank burst. With his dedication to insurance matters, our team member didn’t think ‘wow, that’s a lot of money’ or ‘I hope things are okay there now’. Instead, he thought: ‘well, that shows the importance of public liability insurance. If the plumber was properly covered at the time of the incident, his insurance company will meet those costs. If he wasn’t, he’ll have to pay out himself. And almost €10,000 would be a major hit for any sole trader. Ask yourself if your operation could take that sort of hit, and survive. If it couldn’t, then that shows the importance of public liability cover for you too.

What it covers

Essentially, public liability covers two types of damages:

Costs associated with another party suffering injury or loss on your premises.
Costs associated with any damage you cause to another party’s property.

This means that even if you’re a tradesman such as a plumber, electrician, or builder, who only ever works in other people’s places, you need public liability cover just as much as somebody who regularly has customers or clients in their own premises. Accidents happen all the time. Public liability covers you against the financial fall-out of those accidents, if you are the one at fault. The plumber mentioned above now knows the importance of public liability cover. Hopefully he knew it beforehand too, and had cover in place. Other examples where public liability policy would cover a tradesman at fault include:

A painter accidentally tips a pot of paint over expensive antique furniture, and is sued for its value.
An electrician causes somebody to suffer a shock due to incorrect wiring.
A builder leaves materials stacked in a hazardous manner, and another party suffers an injury while on site.

These examples show that whatever your trade, you should always have public liability policy in place.

How To Arrange Public Liability Policy

Fortunately, arranging public liability policy is easy. Simply complete our online quotation form and we’ll quickly get back to you after we deal with all the largest insurance providers in Ireland, to get you the best price. We can arrange your cover from as little as €1 per day. You can save even more if you bundle it with your van insurance or another policy from any of our affiliated companies. They are: