Public liability - is this normal?

[Pedroski]

Pricing more jobs at the moment and want to sort something better out re insurance. I call in fully insured and qualified self-employed/freelance arborist, but I'm the customer contact and arrange the jobs. Called NFU local office as I was concerned that even though the arborist is insured, the customer or whoever would want to claim from me for damages etc as the job contract is between customer and me. Same goes if anything happens to a third party's property - they would want to claim from me, not the arborist I have put on the job.

 

Anyway, I didn't think this would be a problem......BUT NFU have just got back to me telling me that they can't cover me, even though I'm not climbing and working in the trees, as I'm supervising the work. They can only cover me for the landscaping and groundwork I do.

 

I won't have the customer deal directly with the arborist I'm contracting as it's my job I've priced, and I know how sneaky some of these freelance types can be.... getting in tight with the customer and getting all future work directly leaving me in the cold So what happens if the insured and qualified arborist drops a tree on a car or injures someone? How should I go about getting insurance to cover me in the case something the arborist has done causes problems?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Pedroski

[smithers1603]

I,m insured with Trust Insurance, I have public and employers liability and they also give me cover for sub-contractor.

[WorcsWuss]

Does seem odd Pete, I'll PM you the email address of a guy you should speak to, he's quoted for mine and seems very knowledgable and the prices are good.

The NFU's stance appears plain wrong.

As an aside, we are a main contractor and employ insured sub contractors in construction, but we still have to have insurance.

Ignore the NFU!

[Alinicoll]

There are plenty of bosses who don`t climb. The public liability should cover you and any employees you have including self employed freelancers. Sub contractors insurance is different, you don`t need that although many policies come with bona fide sub contractors insurance. Phone around, Trust, Arbninsure and others are all good.

 

NFU can vary office to office, try another NFU office.

[volvo]

I cant see the problem, is he not working for you even if he is self employed he should be covered through you for damages?

Same would apply if you employed people through an agency which a lot of people do.

[David Goss]

Pricing more jobs at the moment and want to sort something better out re insurance. I call in fully insured and qualified self-employed/freelance arborist, but I'm the customer contact and arrange the jobs. Called NFU local office as I was concerned that even though the arborist is insured, the customer or whoever would want to claim from me for damages etc as the job contract is between customer and me. Same goes if anything happens to a third party's property - they would want to claim from me, not the arborist I have put on the job.

 

Anyway, I didn't think this would be a problem......BUT NFU have just got back to me telling me that they can't cover me, even though I'm not climbing and working in the trees, as I'm supervising the work. They can only cover me for the landscaping and groundwork I do.

 

I won't have the customer deal directly with the arborist I'm contracting as it's my job I've priced, and I know how sneaky some of these freelance types can be.... getting in tight with the customer and getting all future work directly leaving me in the cold So what happens if the insured and qualified arborist drops a tree on a car or injures someone? How should I go about getting insurance to cover me in the case something the arborist has done causes problems?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Pedroski

 

I have never done that and dont know anyone that would:sneaky2:

[WorcsWuss]

I have never done that and dont know anyone that would:sneaky2:

 

I'm afraid it does happen... perhaps not in the circles we choose to mix in but people do get tempted by this.... it happens in every industry unfortunately...

[Hodge]

I,m insured with Trust Insurance, I have public and employers liability and they also give me cover for sub-contractor.

 

Me to, I have used them for 8 years. I would highly recommend them.

[Pedroski]

Thanks everyone for suggestions of who to get in touch with. I'm sure I'll get something satisfactory sorted out now.

 

The problem I had with NFU is that they said they wouldn't provide cover if I was acting as foreman/supervisor on tree jobs, and I took this to mean that I would then be potentially at risk if something happened and the insurer of the freelance/self-employed arborist refused to pay out.

 

Cheers again

[Pedroski]

I'm afraid it does happen... perhaps not in the circles we choose to mix in but people do get tempted by this.... it happens in every industry unfortunately...

 

We've had it happen to us on a big scale a couple of times. One was a guy who priced up a big oak dismantle for us at a place where we were in charge of the garden and landscaping, and had been for many years. This guy went down to start the job and told the customer it would be less if he paid him directly. In the blink of an eye him and his sons were in there doing the whole garden and all sorts. It's not nice when it's someone you've known for 25+ years. And it's one of the reasons I'll always make sure I'm on the job now.