There are many different kinds of Engineers, covering the
different areas within the design industry and also the
construction industry. Engineering broadly covers any kind
of work which finds a solution to problems/allows the
completion of tasks or has to do with the design and
specification of a product.
This section would include, but not be limited to - Civil
Engineers; Structural Engineers; Geotechnical Engineers;
Soil and Foundation Engineers; Mechanical Engineers;
Electrical Engineers; Electronics Engineers; Heating &
Ventilating Engineers. There are overlaps sometimes and
architectural consultancy, surveying (structural/quantity
etc) town planning or even valuations can be seen on an
engineer’s proposal.
There are many associated
professional bodies, however no compulsory requirement to
buy professional indemnity insurance. Engineers however
recognise that that if they are found to be legally liable,
by way of any negligent act error or omission to undertake
duties, leading to a financial loss to a client, this could
lead to a claim. Sensibly, they choose to insure and are
offered a miscellaneous ‘neglect, error or omission’ policy
or sometimes the wider ‘civil liability’ wording.
Are you a
Consultant that could be deemed a ‘Contractor’?
If
the answer is ‘yes’ please go to the Design and Construction
section on our site. This could arise if a client was
looking for a company to complete the design and also the
‘construction’ (be that a build/manufacture etc). You, the
Consultant, might be asked to give a single price for a job
& if you take on the whole job, even if the physical work is
done by sub-contractors (bona fide or not) you would in
effect be acting as the contractor too, in which case a
traditional professional indemnity wording is likely to be
incorrect for you. There is a professional indemnity
product for ‘contractors’ but the breadth and cost of cover
would be different to that of a 100% design consultant. It
is also worth checking that you do not incur a joint and
several liability for other members of the design team ‘by
accident’. Be very careful of the contracts you enter into.
This can ‘work’ the same way
for the construction company, who can take on the design
responsibility inadvertently if they don’t have an in-house
design team. However, they would only ever buy a design and
construct professional indemnity policy, which would ask
them about this. They will come for recourse against the
consultant in the event of a claim, the consultant much more
likely to have professional indemnity insurance that could
respond, than the contractor. If a consultant is just a
subcontractor under a contractor's design and build job,
then the normal policy coverage should respond...
Please complete the
enquiry form as fully as possible and submit to us for a
quotation for consulting engineers professional indemnity Insurance.
Alternatively, please download
the blank
proposal form here,
complete as far as possible and follow the instructions
on page 1 of the form for submission to Blackfriars
If you have already
completed a proposal form, or a renewal form, you may submit
that to
pii@Blackfriarsrgoup.com or by
fax to 08702 201048 or by mail to Blackfriars Group, 6 Congleton
Road, Sandbach, Cheshire. CW11 1HN.
