Public Liability Insurance in a Nutshell

If you’re about to sit down for a quick break with a brew, you’re in luck. In less time than it takes you to drink your cup of tea, you'll know all there is to know about Public Liability Insurance.

To put it simply, Public Liability Insurance is the financial safety net all tradespeople need against accidents, injuries or property damage incurred in the line of duty.

Public Liability Insurance covers your back by protecting you and your business from the costs associated with work incidents such as:

• Injury to a customer or a member of the public
• Damage to property belonging to a customer or member of the public

Why do I need Public Liability Insurance?

It’s really simple. Because if you don’t have it, you’ll have to pay for compo claims out of your own pocket, or out of your business’s profits.

With Public Liability Insurance, your insurer is the one stumping up the cash, so you don’t need to panic if a claim is made against you.

Cover with Rhino starts at just over £6 a month, which is a drop in the ocean compared to what even the most insignificant-seeming claim will end up costing your business.

Ok, but do I really need it?

The short answer is yes. Unless you can afford to shell out for costly compo claims which can add up to tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions.

Compensation claims against small businesses are common, and unfortunately, you hardworking tradesmen and women are often the most frequently hit with them.

This is simply because of the nature of the job at hand. From gas fitters to glaziers – whatever your profession, trade life tends to come with its fair share of hazards.  This could be from the equipment you use, the materials you work with or the fact that you’re working at height. Whatever the reason, risks to others unfortunately come with the territory of providing the services you do.

If a customer or member of the public gets hurt, one of the first things they’re likely to do is make a claim against your business. It doesn’t matter what caused the accident – whether negligence on your part, an oversight on theirs, or simply an ‘act of God’ – you and your business will be liable.  

Claims can be for things like:

• loss of income due to personal injury
• medical expenses including rehab or physio
• any other cost which has arisen for the claimant as a result of what took place

You’ll also need to pay solicitor’s fees to help manage the legal side of the claim against you and legal representation to defend you if you go to court.

There is no way to predict such costs and write them into your business’s financial plan, as we just never know what life has in store. One day everything could be going swimmingly, the next day a jogger could trip over a stray mixing tub and end up suing your business for their complex fracture which takes weeks to heal.

Of course, if you’re anything like the tradies we work with, your health and safety standards are absolutely second-to-none. Many tradespeople have never seen an accident on site, or caused damage to property, and they’re rightly proud of this track record.

But we work in insurance. We have a slightly different view based on seeing insurance claims from tradespeople come through our doors day in, day out. The truth is, we can’t influence how other people behave and we never know what’s right around the corner.

Public Liability Insurance isn’t just for injuries and accidents, either. It also covers you if you cause accidental damage to third party property. 

As a tradesperson, you come with plenty of baggage. Relax, we mean your tools, equipment and materials that come with you wherever you go. This stuff is vital to you carrying out your job, but it can get extremely messy.

Dust, debris, electricity, dirt and chemicals are all things tradespeople deal with daily, and despite our best efforts and all the plastic sheeting in the world, they can end up damaging property. Scuffs, spills, stains, dents and breakage are all relatively common occurrences in the course of a job, and if a claim is made, it’s up to your business to make the damage good again. There’s also the more serious end of the scale. Fires, water damage, structural damage and major spillages are just examples of things that can lead to a costly claim against you.

Public Liability Insurance is there the ensure that if (or when) your business is exposed to such claims, it won’t be you who has to pay out, it will be your insurer. 

As trade insurance experts, we at Rhino Trade Insurance believe that Public Liability cover should be the bare minimum insurance that self-employed tradespeople take out. It’s not a legal requirement, but it’s often a mandatory requirement when working for larger organisations as they aren’t in the business of taking risks on an uninsured contractor.

Why choose rhino for your Public Liability Insurance?

At Rhino Trade Insurance, we are the UK’s leading trade insurance broker.

Rhino offers Public Liability Insurance for almost any trade, and our levels of cover range from £1m, £2m to £5m, meaning that you can be covered for up to £5million worth of damages or compensation by taking out the policy.

Our prices for public liability insurance starts at just over £6 a month, which is far less than the industry average. That's less than a pint of beer (London prices), a cinema ticket (nothing good on anyway), or even a large bucket of fried chicken (mmm, chicken).

Our public liability insurance has an excess of £500 as standard, even if your claim ends up running into the millions of pounds. Please note this excess rises to £1000 only in cases where the claim directly results from the use of heat.

With Rhino, you can pay for your Public Liability Insurance on an annual or monthly basis – whichever you prefer. If you’d rather spread the cost and pay monthly, we get it. Unlike most trade insurance providers, at Rhino we don't charge unnecessary interest fees or administrative penalties if you’d rather pay monthly for your insurance premiums. The price you are given is the price you'll pay. 

At Rhino we know trade insurance like the back of our hand. And with us, there’s no one-size-fits-all cover. There are as many different trades out there are there are flavours of crisps, so we offer tailored policies made specially for your line of business.

You can get a quote quickly via our simple to navigate quote engine. Just let us know your trade, turnover, and the level of cover you need, and we'll give you a quote (in the words of Tommy Cooper) just like that.

There you have it, Public Liability Insurance in a nutshell. You've even got time to finish your cup of tea. 

If you have any other questions about Public Liability cover or any additional insurance we at Rhino can get you set up with, get in touch today.