Engineer Insurance - How Safe Are Your Calculations?

Engineers form an indispensable part of a modern society. Be it for construction, exploration, device manufacturing or product development; engineering specialists are the reason behind many a development that makes us all so proud of.

A career as a engineering consultant is hugely rewarding and challenging – but it is not without risks. As a hired 'professional' often highly paid to provide expert advice & services, consultant engineers owe a duty of care to their clients. This means if mistakes are made or if the engineer is deemed to be professionally negligent they have a direct financial responsibility to their clients for their errors and may be liable for compensation.

Role of Professional Indemnity In Engineers' Lives

Engineering comprises a series of activities such as planning, designing, project management, production & testing - every step holds respective responsibilities and individual demands to be met. Sometimes in the race to get a job done mistakes can creep into the engineers work-from miscalculating stress loads on a wall causing a house to collapse to the incorrect design of a office heating system causing it to overheat. Professional indemnity insurance (pi) provides engineers with a much needed financial cushion in the event that things go wrong.

Engineer Insurance – How Does It Work?

In exchange for a small premium, (prices normally start at circa £170 per annum) engineer consultants can benefit from tailor made professional indemnity policies that take complete care of the risks involved in the profession. If a client makes a claim against you, professional indemnity insurance will protect your financial reputation and defence costs and should a claim be proven the cost of meeting compensation payments. Even if you have done nothing wrong but a client alleges negligence on your part, the policy will still protect you and pay the legal costs in defending you.

Many clients now insist on consultant engineers having professional indemnity insurance , having this protection proves to your clients that you are a professional & responsible in your approach & it should help in securing new work.

A number of UK professional indemnity (pi) brokers provide policies to protect engineers in the event of claims against them for negligence. Always read the policy fine print to make sure your engineering activities are covered, check carefully for any sneaky exclusions & excesses as these can vary. If you have any doubts ask the broker. Finally, it always pays to buy a policy which is underwritten by a heavyweight insurer.