Mark, this is a question that is better answered by you or your work colleagues. You are the ones employing the contractors and you should know (much better than anyone here) what is being done, what the potential is for disruption, damage or harm and what affect this would have on your business. Do your own risk assessment, seeking input as necessary from the bean-counters and lawyers.

Thus a photocopier service engineer has a very different potential to cause financial loss to your business than the demolition waste removal contractor.

A self-employed person with no employees should not be required to purchase EL insurance.

Hi Mark, EL insurance is protecting the employer against claims by employees: No employees = no liability for harm to them = no possibility of any claims from employees against the employer.

Harm to them by your people is PL; harm by them to your people is their PL, possibly your EL.

Hope this makes sense.

Mark,
David is right on this... no employees = no need for Employers' Liability insurance.

If they wish to cover themseleves in event that they fall off their own ladder then they need to take out, for example, Personal Accident Insurance. This will give them an income plus a lump sum for certain types of injury - as set out in the policy terms. They could also purchase Income Protection - which as its name implies would give them an income in the event that they were unable to work through accident or illness e.g. cancer. Again, the policy will contain specific terms, conditions etc governing when monies will be paid out.

Phil

Most of the posts have concentrated on the EL side, but if I may return to the Public Liability aspect with the following comments.

A small firm can cause an enormous amount of damage and financial loss to an end user as a larger organisation can.

I am aware of a large retail store that during a refurbishment a third tier contractor cut through asbestos ceiling tiles which led them to closing a whole floor of the store for six weeks while is was "decontaminated" and have all the "potentially contaminated stock" destroyed. I stopped counting the cost of the incident when it got above £7 million!

Also worth considering. Someone once said to me that if you were working at a stately home, a £10 million insurance might not go far if you damaged a painting.

Therefore, you need to be the company pessimist and consider the worst possible option.

Rodger Ker