During my 35 years running a small building company I saw a lot of accidents amongst plasterers, most of which involved falls. Balancing on a step ladder whilst holding an 8x4 half inch sheet of plasterboard (yes we never got our heads round the metric system) in place whilst trying to secure it with a galvanised clout was a regular cause.
Wobbly platforming for skimming a ceiling was another. A plasterer friend of mine did a job for a cowboy firm that provided him with a few old 7x3 joists balanced on dustbins. He was off work for months, the builder was uninsured, and his total compensation was zero.
Speaking of plastering ceilings; I always kept an eyebath and bottle of Optrex handy for cleaning plaster out of eyes. No matter how many pairs of new googles I provided the spreads wouldn't use them, they complained that they misted too easily. Many is the time I blessed the fact I wore glasses when they protected my eyeball from a dollop of board finish - no amount of compensation could make up for damaged eyes.
So, yes. Accidents do happen and there are claims!
Personal injury claims can prove very expensive. Some of the most common claims we came across, though, were not for accidents to people, but for damage to customers' property, particularly pipes and cables. Nailing up boards over studding was the usual culprit. It wasn't so bad when a nail went cleanly into a water pipe because we could spot it straght away but we had one in a bathroom which only became apparent a couple of years later. The nail had just about touched a hot water pipe and the constant expansion and contraction had eventually worn the tiniest hole in it. Repairing the leak was a simple job; taking the bath out, stripping the tiles off, touring the merchants to find matching tiles, then putting everything back together was a different matter entirely!
The subcontract plaster had, by then, disappeared ages ago. Luckily my insurer paid up, otherwise that job could have really spoilt my day.
All tradesman insurance policies that are bought via this site are tailor made to each customer so it's up to you which type of cover you want to have but the common ones are:
Employer's liability insurance; if you employ anyone you have to, by law, have this to compensate your employees for injuries they suffer whilst on one of your jobs.
Public liability is one you should really consider as well. This can compensate your customers or other members of the public if they are hurt, or lose money, as a result of alleged negligence by yourself or your employees. It was public liability cover that paid for the bathroom job above; this was the only claim I ever made but others were not so lucky.
Personal accident cover can be really helpful to self employed people who, if they don't work don't get paid, as well as cover for tools; there are a lot of thieves about and good floats, trowels, darbies and access equipment can take a lot of replacing.
We understand the building trade. We recognise that every business is different, so we don't offer online packages; that way it is too easy to hit a problem that isn't insured, or buy cover you don't need.
Unlike many other companies we don't deal with just a single iinsurance provider; we prefer you to have more choice than that so that you can compare more prices and benefits. Instead we introduce you to specialist insurance providers (we have a whole panel of them) who can chat to you over the phone or by email to find out exactly what cover you need, and then they will search for the best policies that they can find, which suit your unique business.
In most cases their services will cost you nothing. Just like the online companies and price comparison sites they get a commission from the insurance companies you buy your policies from. So, rather than cost you money, they could save it for you instead.
They are all Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (and they will prove this if you ask them to) so you can be confident that will work ethically on your behalf to search for the best insurance cover for you, at the right price.
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Membership number: 007759
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