As an employee you would not need PI insurance, you would be wasting your money. It is though advisable for Self employed to have PI. Steve

I tend to agree with both comments above. If you are employed specifically to exercise your skills in H&S, it's no different from you being employed to exercise skills as any skilled tradesman. Vicarious liability is a great concept and you would really need to be way off line to fall outside it. In other words, your employer is liable for the actions of his employees whilst at work, even when they get things wrong. But, and there had to be one, we have occasionally seen prosecutions of individuals after major accidents. You might like to discuss their D&O cover with your new employer just in case (it covers costs but of course not any fine). Don't assume that the company's or insurer's solicitor would also represent you - they won't because of conflict of interest, although they probably can make a helpful referral. At a stressful time you don't want the added worry of who is going to pay though. For peace of mind, it's worth spending a few minutes on this with your new bosses; I would put dollars to doughnuts that they haven't given it a lot of thought.

Judex, You are to be employed as a H&S "person" (adviser/officer etc) and I am assuming that you will be offering advice to your employer on how they will discharge their duties under H&S legislation. You will not need Prof Indemnity (PI) insurance. To recap - in brief since - there are long books on this..!! Employers Liability Insurance: Protects employers against the possibility that they will be found negligent and that an employee who has been injured by their negligence is owed damages/compensation. Nothing to do with PI. Prof Indemnity Insurance: Is needed by professionals who deliver "advice" to their clients. Thus it is needed by architects, solicitors etc and H&S consultants who act on their own behalf, advising people such as employers. It protects the professional against the risk that their advice is held to be deficient i.e. negligent. Note that if they put their briefcase down and one of their clients trips over it then that would be Public Liability "incident". Public Liability Insurance (generally includes Products Liability) : Required if ones supplies goods and services - thus taken out by manufacturers and those retailing goods as well as those who provide a service e.g. Electricians, plumbers, builders etc. It protects against the eventuality that the goods/products are defective - and cause injury/loss or that the act of building, re-wiring the house etc causes loss or damage e.g. house burns down. As a previous poster has pointed out... an employer is responsible for the action of his employees whether that is a FLT driver who cuts a corner and runs into a pedestrian or a H&S person who makes a mistake in interpreting legislation or devising a safe system of work. Generally a firm's PL is extended to include small elements of PI cover. Thus a manufacturer who does a little design for a customer before they actually make a product for that customer does not need separate PI cover. But if they had "design studio" where they undertook design work "for a fee" and did not necessarily manufuacture the product they designed then they would need separate PI cover in addition to their PL. Hope this helps Phil

How do I mispell things even with a spell checker? It must be Friday!

Thanks for your clarifications for helping not have additional charge in these difficult times.