Why health & safety consultant professional indemnity cover can be vital
Although many businesses manage to get through years or even decades without a major problem, there is always the risk of legal action in the professional environment. Companies which provide their advice on a contract basis may be particularly at risk. Although nine times out of 10 clients will be happy and jobs will be error free, it only takes one mistake for a client to potentially lose money or end up in difficulty. With the importance of health and safety procedures now very much at the top of many company agendas, people working in this industry are arguably particularly in need of some form of protection. Health & safety consultant professional indemnity cover is a straightforward product which would protect you in the event you faced an unpleasant legal challenge.
Indemnity cover is popular with many companies which offer their services as consultants. A firm may decide to take action against them if they feel their advice has be inadequate or worse still has lost them money. For example, a health and safety consultant might be hired by a door manufacturer to ensure they are following or the correct legal procedures with regards to the health and safety of staff on their factory floor. The consultant may give the company a clean bill of health and say they are well within the regulations. But should a consultant miss something the company may turn out to be in breach of the rules, so the firm may then come back and seek legal redress.
Health & safety consultant professional indemnity cover would kick in in such circumstances and pay the legal bills of the health and safety consultant as they defended their case. Even claims which are invalid or have no basis need to be defended, and in many cases this will involve hiring a legal professional. If a claim is valid and the claimant’s case is successful, compensation may even be awarded against a consultant, possibly running into thousands of pounds or more. Indemnity cover will even cover the cost of compensation, up to the policies limits.
When it comes to setting a limit for your cover, you will need to think about the typical firm you deal with. Larger companies dealing with a wide range of clients might want protection running into hundreds of thousands of pounds or more. Smaller firms will simply not need this level of protection.
In exchange for your premium you not only get protection for legal bills which result from mistakes, you will also be covered if you face an allegation that you have defamed someone, breached their confidence or copyright and will even be protected if you lose or damage a client’s important data or documents. Health & safety consultant professional indemnity cover therefore has the potential to be a bargain in the long run if you ever do face an unfortunate legal challenge which would otherwise have put your business into financial trouble.
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