Employer’s Liability Insurance

Even if you have excellent health and safety practices in your organisation, injuries and accidents happen all the time. And if an employee becomes ill while they are working for you they may seek compensation. Your employees can make a claim through the Employers’ Liability Trading Office even if they no longer work for you. Employers’ liability insurance protects you against the costs of prosecution under health and safety law. ChoiceQuote has been brokering insurance since 1995 and can help you manage the risks of injury to your employees.

Employers are responsible for the health of their employees at work. If an incident does occur your employees may seek compensation under the Health and Safety at Work Act of 1976 on the grounds that they received inadequate training or because you were negligent in some other way. There may also be a criminal investigation if the illness or accident occurred because a law or item of legislation was broken. Typical liability cases involve:

Slips, trips and falls in the workplace
Injuries obtained through using workplace machinery
Stress related illnesses or injury
Respiratory illnesses

According to the law, the relevant illnesses or incidents would need to be shown to occur on business premises, or as a result of a company’s work practices or equipment. You could also be prosecuted in the event of a fatality at work.

Employers’ liability insurance has been a legal requirement since 1969 for most businesses even if you only have one employee. Whether or not someone counts as an employee for the sake of this type of liability depends on the nature of your contract – whether it is spoken, written or implied. Your liability may extend to temporary or occasional, self-employed or contracted staff, and even volunteers and even interns who are under your direction. You could be fined by the Health and Safety Executive£2,500 for every day that you don’t have employers’ liability insurance. You could also be fined £1,000 if you do not display your Employers’ Liability certificate or refuse to make it available to inspectors.

Claims for damages under health and safety legislation can be very costly, and so can defending such claims. This is why you need a minimum cover of £5 million. Employers’ liability insurance should cover you for the costs associated with any incident at work. However, it would not necessarily include incidents that happened while driving, which may need to be covered by a separate motor insurance policy. Accidents on your premises involving the public or visitors would need to be covered by public liability insurance.

What does employers’ liability insurance cover?

Depending on your policy, employers’ liability insurance may cover:

Third party property damage
Personal injury
Legal or medical fees

You would need to check with your insurance provider whether all your business activities and risks would be covered. For instance, some insurers will not provide cover against exposure to asbestos. There are, however, exemptions for those who are required to possess employers’ liability insurance, such as for unincorporated business, or if you only employ close family members. The minimum combined costs of payouts and compensations covered by policies would be £5 million, but many insurers offer payouts of £10 million and more. The level of payout should be tailored to the specific risks that your business faces, including the number of your employees.

You could save time and money by getting a bespoke quote for your business that includes other types of cover such as public liability insurance, building insurance or business interruption insurance. You should check that your insurer is authorised to sell employers’ liability insurance.

ChoiceQuote

If you choose us to broker your employers’ liability insurance, you have access to more than 20 years of experience and our 24-hour claims helpline. Our team have access to the leading insurers and are able to negotiate deals that are unavailable elsewhere. We will do our utmost to reduce your business’s exposure to risk and to ensure that your costs are kept to a minimum. Get in touch with the team to find out more about home business insurance and landlords’ insurance.

For a free quote for liability insurance for your business, contact ChoiceQuote today!