A Range of Insurance Policies to Protect Plumbing, Heating and Gas Engineers

Many self-employed plumbing and heating engineers work for main contractors as well as working on their own domestic and commercial jobs. Working for a main contractor typically requires you to carry certain types of insurance before you’ll be allowed on site, which means insurance is important not only to protect your business and your customers, but also to meet the requirements of a contract.

Our insurance partners Markel Direct are trades insurance specialists, and offer a range of protection policies for plumbing, heating and gas engineers.

Aside from the public liability insurance (PL), personal accident insurance, and tools insurance, Markel Direct also offer a suite of different types of cover for various other trades-based risks, including:

• Employers’ liability insurance
• Goods in transit cover
• Hired-in plant insurance
• Owned plant insurance
• Contract works insurance
• Professional indemnity insurance

Employers’ liability insurance (EL)

If you employ staff, or you’re so busy that you’re looking to take on your first employee, then you are required by law to hold employers’ liability insurance with a minimum of £5 million of cover.

EL insurance will provide cover for your legal fees and compensation should an employee become ill or sustain an injury because of the work they do for you, and make a claim against you.

Goods in transit cover

Goods in transit insurance provides cover for items that are lost, damaged, or stolen while being transported in your own vehicle, or on your behalf by a third-party. Markel Direct offer policies which typically cover:

• Theft of items whilst in transit
• Damage caused by an accident during transit
• Loss of items during transit
• Damage caused to items during transit

For example, if your transporting a new boiler to your customer and you are involved in a car crash that damages the new boiler beyond repair, it would be covered by the policy.

Plant insurance

Plant insurance is designed to cover the costs of ongoing plant hire charges you incur while the equipment is replaced or repaired, or to replace your own plant machinery if it is stolen or damaged.

Cover is usually offered as part of a broader insurance package and can provide cover for individual items such as power tools, up to larger equipment such as generators and mini-diggers.

The policy can be tailored to ‘hired-in plant insurance’, ‘own plant insurance’, or both if required, to cover your plant machinery from malicious damage, fire, accidental damage, flood and water damage, storm damage, and theft. The policy will not cover wear and tear or costs for the ongoing upkeep of the machinery.

Hired-in plant insurance

If you’ve leased an item of plant machinery, you’re responsible for paying ongoing hire charges, even if the equipment has been damaged or stolen and can’t be used. Plant insurance will cover the costs incurred for ongoing lease hire while the hired plant is being recovered or repaired.

Own plant insurance

Plant insurance can be taken out to cover your own plant machinery. The policy will cover the loss or damage to your equipment should it be stolen or damaged.

Contract works insurance

Contract works insurance is designed to protect building works that are in progress. The policy will cover the cost of having to re-do work, including the cost of the tools, materials and labour, if the existing work is destroyed by fire, flood, or theft during construction.

This is relevant to plumbing and heating engineers if you’re working on a domestic or commercial premises and a fire damages part or all of the property, damaging your work in the process.

Although this instance may be rare, it could still occur and cost a lot of money, and extra time, for the work to be redone if cover is not in place.

Professional indemnity insurance (PI)

Where there is any form of human intervention, there is a risk of mistakes occurring, which is where professional indemnity insurance can help.

PI insurance provides protection if someone claims you have been negligent in your work and your alleged negligence has caused the claimant a financial loss.

For example, if you need to weld a pipe, but the finished job isn’t 100% watertight, then you could be held responsible for any water damage caused to your client’s property if the pipe bursts.

Professional indemnity insurance would provide cover for your legal fees in defending the claim and compensation awarded to the claimant.

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