Tradies Insurance

Public Liability Insurance helps cover costs related to injury and property damage sustained by third parties — that is, anyone who isn’t an employee, manager or owner — in connection with your business activities.

So if you’re going about your business and someone’s injured or their property is damaged — for example, they trip over cables and hurt themselves, or break their phone — Public Liability Insurance can help you deal with the associated costs.

Public Liability Insurance helps cover things like:

• flooding caused by a faulty pipe fitting
• slips and trips caused by tools and equipment left in open areas
• injury caused by falling cabinetry that’s been incorrectly fitted, and
• injury caused by a pedestrian falling into a ditch that’s been dug for a project.

It depends. Some states require evidence of Public Liability Insurance before a licence can be issued for certain trades. In some cases you may be required to show proof of Public Liability Insurance before you can enter work sites.

You can find out if this applies to you by checking your relevant state government website.

It depends on the needs of your business. There are a couple of things to consider:

• The contracts you work on. Some contracts will require a minimum amount covered. For example, if your business is within a shopping centre, you may find the contract specifies $20 million be covered.
• The conditions of your licence (if applicable). As an example, electrical contractors are required to hold a minimum of $5 million public liability cover in order to obtain their licence in some states.

Both Public and Products Liability provide cover for business-related injury or property damage caused to third parties. Both of these covers are included in Tradies Insurance policies, but there are some differences to note.

• Public Liability provides cover for injury or property damage that occurs while you’re on the job. However it won’t cover employee medical expenses or damage to property or goods your business owns. These are respectively covered by workers compensation and Property Insurance.
• Products Liability provides cover for injury or damage caused by products you distribute, supply, or manufacture. It also includes completed work that is defective, provided you have cover in place at the time of the loss. This can make Products Liability valuable even during periods where you’re not working.
  For example, an electrician incorrectly installing a power point may still be liable for subsequent damage even if they didn’t make the product themselves.

Professional Indemnity Insurance is for professionals who provide advice or services to their customers. It helps covers you for legal costs and claims by third parties for damages related to specialist advice or specialist services provided by you as part of your business.

For example, if a customer suffers injury or financial loss as a result of acting on advice you gave them, they may take legal action against you.

We cover both portable powered and non-powered hand-held tools. You have the option of selecting an unspecified sum insured (up to $2,500 per item) or a specified sum, which allows you to list individual equipment at a specified value.

Commercial Motor Vehicle Insurance covers your work vehicle for insured events, such as theft or accidental damage. It can also help cover you if loss occurs during business-related activities, such as driving to sites or client meetings.

We offer three types of Commercial Motor Vehicle Insurance cover:

• Comprehensive. This provides cover for accidental damage to your vehicle and includes legal liability cover. Accessories in, on, or attached to your vehicle are also covered. This includes tow bars, bull bars, fixed GPS units, winch, tarpaulins, sign writing, standard vehicle tools and toolboxes.
• Legal liability, fire and theft. This helps cover your legal liability as well as damage or loss related to fire and theft.
• Legal liability only. This exclusively provides cover for your legal liability.

Vehicles that qualify for Commercial Motor Vehicle Insurance include:

• cars, utes, vans, 4WDs, and light trucks not exceeding 2 tonne
• caravans and trailers (additional benefit up to $2,000 for two wheel or box trailers)
• towable compressors
• bobcats, and
• ride-on lawnmowers, rotary hoes, chippers, and stump grinders.

We don’t cover:

• mobile cranes
• hook risks
• long haulage vehicles
• concrete agitator vehicles
• garbage compactors, and
• concrete pumping trucks or trailers.