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Posted By Martin
Last year I provided advice on Health and Safety matters (outside of my work) to a voluntary organisation which I'm involved with. This involved doing risk assessments, advising on controls, and advising management on how to keep the ball rolling and do it for themselves, all on a voluntary basis as a favour.
I've been asked to go back in and re-assess the situation and advise further. It occured to me - am I exposing myself to potential problems / claims against my advise if it proves to be wrong. I have no insurance for this (it's essentially a one-off). I put a disclaimer on the paperwork produced last time.
This time around, I've been offered a small cash sum for my efforts which I'm not taking due to the above worries, as I would have thought that being payed puts you in a more difficult position legally.
Any advice on this would be gratefully recieved.
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Posted By Mike Charleston
Martin
Insurance is yet another element of life where the key to it is risk assessment.
Yes, there have been (very) occasional cases where an individual adviser who does his best for a client has been pursued through the courts. Nevertheless, ask yourself what range of outcomes might conceivably lead to a claim against yourself.
You say that you have helped with risk assessments, advising on controls, and advising management on how to keep the ball rolling and do it for themselves. Even if management decided at a later time that your advice was wrong, wouldn't it follow that they would have to demonstrate gross negligence on your part for it to go anywhere in a court?
I believe that the issue of monetary reward is largely irrelevant - so take the money on offer!
Bottom line from my perspective: The protection provided by indemnity insurance is over-stated for general H&S, providing a profitable market for insurers in what is a low-risk area of potential litigation. Get on with doing what you describe, because you are helping organisations that would otherwise achieve less. If ever brought to task, focus on your reasonably achievable endeavours that helped move the organisation forward.
Your task appears to be facilitation, so others are "complicit" in subsequent developments, providing you haven't fed them a totally spurious line of H&S logic. Getting others involved with risk assessments is both the name of the game and it really does help to share the "blame" around if necessary!!
My limited experience of relevant cases pursued by the HSE is focussed on a recent COSHH consultant, who failed to set up his equipment in the right place and as a result, concluded that exposure levels were adequate when they were not. This rather unusual set of circumstances was surely more easily proven because technical advice (ie not really H&S advice) was found to be wanting?
I can anticipate that such thoughts will be challenged by others - so let's see!!
Mike
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Posted By Allan St.John Holt
I am not a lawyer, but -
I would think that the casual nature of the advice described would be such as to insulate the giver. But when you start taking money for it, then the position changes such that you have a contract, in that advice is given for a consideration and the implied terms of such a contract include the need for it to be accurate or reasonable. In the same way, advice given on this forum is free and not actionable! Perhaps you could arrange some benefit in kind instead, such as a couple of reams of paper? This is all a bit tricky, though.
As to PI insurance, I tend to agree with the questioner on the whole, but the real reason many people buy it is because most clients of any size demand it nowadays, and not having it can exclude the consultant from the marketplace.
More people are sueing more people these days, though. You will also be aware of the 'claims made versus claims paid' thread here recently, which indicates that once you start you need to keep it going in some form, otherwise 'old' cases can come back and bite you.
Overall, the Latin tag 'pro bono publico' seems the best way to look at it. [For the public good] So, if you want to help, do it because it's good for your soul and not because you get a small payment. If you want to charge for it, probably best to own up to being a consultant!!
Allan
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Posted By Ken Taylor
I believe that they would have to prove loss through negligence rather than gross negligence. If you are worried and want to cover your back, you could give the advice verbally whilst someone from the organisation takes notes!
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