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Consultants Engineers are occupying the center stage of the industrial engineering these days, improving the standard of industrial engineering as a whole. The services offered to engineering consultants are specialized and are of great importance. These people deal with the technical aspect of industrial engineering. With their specialized knowledge and skill, consultants engineers integrate resources and formulate strategies, structures, and systems for providing the desired results. These people are also concerned with producing efficient and effective goods and services for reaching out to the ultimate clients.

Consultants engineers practice specialized knowledge and analyze a situation in terms of logical, physical, behavioral, economic and management and blend their own understanding in order to generate principles and methods that can be applied practically and provide the desired worth.

Role of Consultants Engineers Insurance

In today’s transparent litigious world, no professional is barred from the risk of undesired damage claims. Each and every professional has to take responsibility for his deeds or actions. He or she has to be equally answerable for the contracts signed between the parties. Any kind of error, breach, negligence or fault in the service process has to be taken in consideration while serving the tenure of the contract.

To minimize the worries of a practicing professional, taking a good quality professional indemnity insurance is necessary. The insurance cover helps a consultant without any tension. If at all, a consultant has to face a situation in which he is bound to pay the damages, this insurance policy can easily serve the needs. In case, damages have to be paid, the insurance company pays the claimant on behalf of the service provider. In situations, if the claimant’s position is wrong, the professional has the right to hire a counsel to represent his position before the authority of the law.

As a freelancer, whether you operate as a sole trader or a limited company, you enjoy the freedom and the rewards of being your own boss. But it does also mean that you don’t have the resources of a large organisation to support you if things go wrong.

And things can – and do – go wrong for freelancers. That’s why you need insurance. Without it, you could end up losing everything you’ve worked for.

Exactly which type of policies you need will depend on the nature of your business but these are the top 5 you should be thinking about:

Professional Indemnity Insurance

An IT consultant fails to foresee a scenario which causes a system he’s designed to crash. A graphic designer inadvertently infringes another company’s trademark when designing a logo. A structural engineer makes a calculation error and a load-bearing wall fails to take its load. Mistakes like these – mistakes anyone can make when under pressure – can lead to claims for damages more than large enough to put you out of business.

Professional indemnity insurance will protect you in the event of such a claim. Subject to policy limits, it will cover your legal bills and the amount of any compensation award.

Public Liability Insurance

Imagine a client trips and injures herself when visiting your offices. Or, when visiting a client’s premises, you trip and damage some equipment. Accidents like these can easily happen. And, in a world of ‘no win, no fee’ TV advertising, can easily lead to you being sued for damages. Public liability insurance will cover you for the cost of any legal fees and compensation payments resulting from just such a third party claim.

Personal Accident & Sickness Insurance

The personal freedom that comes from being a freelancer is a wonderful thing. Until you have an accident or you fall sick and you can’t work. In no time at all, the lack of any money coming in (but still plenty going out) will be adding a level of anxiety that certainly isn’t going to aid your recovery. By providing you with a regular income, personal accident & sickness insurance will free you of that worry.

IR35 insurance

You consider yourself to be a freelancer. Are you quite sure that Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs do? Or would do if they investigated your circumstances? If you’re working on a long term contract at a client’s premises. particularly if you’re using the client’s equipment and facilities, HMRC might take the view that you’re ‘employed’ and should be subject to IR35 tax rules.

IR35 insurance will cover your costs if you find yourself in need of representation in a tax compliance enquiry. For an appropriate premium, you could also cover yourself against the cost of any unpaid tax, NI contributions and penalties if the enquiry rules against you.

Employers Liability Insurance

If you employ people, you are required by law to have employers’ liability insurance to cover the costs of any claim brought against you by an employee who suffers an injury or illness resulting from your negligence. So this one isn’t an option. And do be aware that the legal definition of an ‘employer’ is drawn quite widely.

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As a freelance consultant you want all your contracts to go smoothly and your clients to be happy with your work. In return, you hope they will pay you on time & engage your services on a regular basis. Sometimes however events can take a turn for the worse. Errors may unintentionally creep into your work, resulting in financial loss to your clients and a potentially ruinous liability claim being made against you. Professional indemnity insurance protects you & your business against such claims.

Who needs professional indemnity insurance?

Anyone who takes a fee for providing ‘advice’ that a client relies upon is considered a ‘professional’. By law, ‘professionals’ owe their clients a legal duty of care, if this duty is breached by a negligent action for example, clients can claim compensation for losses and damages caused by one’s negligence. Professions like Accountants, Lawyers, Architects, Surveyors and Medical professionals all legally require professional indemnity insurance to trade. In recent years its also become common for freelancers working in a wide range of industries like IT, Engineering, Design & Business Consulting to maintain policies, largely because clients now insist on PI cover being in place before they award contracts.

How does professional indemnity insurance protect you?

Professional indemnity insurance covers you against legal costs that may arise as a result of a client filing a lawsuit against you due to negligent actions. Even if the allegations are untrue you still need to defend yourself and the legal costs can be crippling. Without adequate insurance your business and even your home could be put on the line. A professional indemnity policy safeguards you against these costs providing legal power to fight your status and reputation. If you are held liable, the policy will also cover any compensation payments.

How much professional indemnity insurance should you buy?

As a business owner, no-one knows their business and its risks better than you. A lot of clients will have mandatory limits of indemnity in their terms of business with you. Other assignments may require you to make a judgement based on how hazardous or litigious the sector is. Also, if your responsible for big projects & sign offs you may want to consider a higher level of cover. The best advice is to buy as much cover as you can reasonably afford as if you are involved in a lawsuite, the last thing you need is to be underinsured whereby your legal fees exceed your level of cover.

Article Resource:- http://www.coulsonpritchard.com/articles/Professional-Indemnity-Insurance-Guide.asp

know more about Professional Indemnity Insurance:- Professional Indemnity Insurance|PI Insurance

Professional indemnity insurance market is gaining boost from the ongoing credit crunch and global economic slow down. These two factors have forced companies for cost reduction measures and to become more quality conscious. The growing consciousness for quality is fanning the growth of Indemnity claims. There was a 5% declination in professional indemnity market in 2006 in comparison to 2005. But, 2007 witnessed a good start and the growth trend is prevailing in 2008.

The UK professional indemnity insurance market is going through a phase of product diversification. More and more professions are now added to be covered under these policies. Earlier, the major beneficiaries were accountants, architects and lawyers. Now, IT professionals, designers, photographers, artists and teachers are also buying these policies.

To minimize their risks, more professionals and companies involved in providing advice, design or a service to clients are opting for professional indemnity insurance(PII) policies. The professional indemnity insurance falls in the lines of liability insurance and protects the insured for his omission, error, breach of contract, unintentional infringement of intellectual property right or any sort of mistake that has potential to cause financial and/or image damage of the client. These policies are equally beneficial if the data offered by the client is lost or an employee of the service provider is found guilty in the misappropriation of the client’s money.

However, there are still some loopholes which keep a large number of professionals out of the PII orbit. These insurance policies do not protect the companies on their offshore projects. Environmental damages and pollution claims are also not included in the coverage area of PII. The short term protection tenure of PII (as they are not meant for whole life) is also creating confusion in the minds of the professionals. Insurers and the apex body Financial Services Authority (FSA) need to take steps in resolving these shortcomings to make professional indemnity insurance policies more customer-centric.

Taking adequate indemnity insurance is important for everyone in today’s competitive world. Professional insurance companies and firms can provide different kinds of insurance protection catering to different needs and requirements. It is the best way to get adequate financial compensation and tension free life when things actually go wrong. In this article, we’ll talk about these different types which are important in our day-to-day life:

Professional Indemnity Insurance

One of the prominent insurance is professional indemnity (PI) insurance that protects a person against his or her legal liability for losses and damages suffered by the customers as a result of your negligent advice.

Employers Liability Insurance

Under this law, employees have the facility to take adequate liability insurance protection with an approved insurer to protect them against any kind of claim from employees for accidents or sickness caused through work.

Public Liability Insurance

In this type of insurance cover, an employer is free to take adequate protection against damage caused to the people as a result of your business activities. It also covers any related legal costs.

Product Liability Insurance

Such insurance policy can be taken against any kind of injury or damage caused by faulty goods. It is important for a person who indulges into manufacturing, repairing or retailing of goods and services.

Property & Content Insurance

As a responsible person, you can seek insurance protection against business property, including premises, fixtures and fittings, stock, computers and equipment. Freelances can seek protection for equipment used for business purposes, contents insurance, or purchase specific business insurance.

IR35 & Legal Expenses Insurance

IR35 Insurance pays costs to cover professional fees relating to tax investigations covering.

Income Protection Insurance

In this arrangement of insurance protection, regular income can be protected in case of long-term sickness, paying their salaries during the period of incapacity.

Permanent Health Insurance

This insurance protection helps you to get compensation in case of health related problems. It covers general insurance to critical illness medical problems.

Contractors are people or companies that enter into contracts with another companies or organizations for completion of particular goals. Generally, the term contract is applicable to builders and construction of a building or any other infrastructure. However, the scope of contract is not limited to builders but has extended to IT contractors as well. Professionals, who are involved, in the business of selling their expertise for meeting the IT needs of growing and established companies can be termed as IT contractors. These people need to perform the various duties as agreed in the signed contract and payment would be made after the successfully delivery of desired service.

Unfortunately, alike any other professionals, IT contractors too fall prey of uncertain risks that might come in the normal course of business activity. There are situations like negligence, error or omission that might cause financial troubles for IT contractors. Any kind of compensation claim from disgruntled clients may shatter the dreams of contractors by affecting their financial health. Thankfully, having adequate IT contractors insurance policy can avert dangers of uncertain situations that may arise while working on a contract signed by both the parties; a service provider and a destination company. This kind of professional indemnity insurance indemnifies against all the possible risks by providing a safe way for fulfillment of the contract clauses.

By having professional indemnity insurance policy, IT contractors work in free manner without thinking too much about any negative situation. In situations when a contractor has to face embarrassment or criticism from clients, the insurance policy provides a strong financial base to recover from the losses. Besides paying the compensation amount, insurance companies pay all other legal costs too.

So, why not to protect interests and rights by taking a good insurance policy? There are aplenty options to choose the best cover in shortest possible time.

If they are a practising architect they must hold PII cover and indeed continue to hold this type of insurance for 6 years from the point of retirement or stopping to trade. Some may argue this is an unecessary cost, however, from our first hand experience, over 28 years as a specialist PII broker many, many claims have come from this sector and without such cover many businesses or indeed sole traders would have been in very serious financial trouble.

The key nowadays to obtaining the correct Professional Indemnity Insurance policy suitable for your practice is really to purchase via a good Professional Indemnity Insurance broker, they will be able to understand the sometimes complex requirements architectual businesses face. A good example would be perhaps that such a broker would make sure that your PII policy complies to the ARB, Architectual Regulation Board requirements and if you were working abroard that suitable endorsements allow an extension of cover.

A good PII broker would also be able to help you in such things such as Collateral Warranties agreements, if not directly by themselves then they should be able to provide legal contacts to help you when such contract advice is needed.

You also need to be happy that when a claim arises that there is a competent team to help you through what can be a worrying and concerning time. Obviously just like in the architects world where new products and services are occuring almost daily we have tried to find a balance between giving our architects and architectual technicians a quicker and better service when purchasing their Professional Indemnity Insurance or other commercial covers such as Public Liability Insurance and at a competitive price.

To this end we can offer, along with our full brokering traditional services to architects and architectual technicians an online multi quote and buy facility where you can obtain quotes from most of the leading suppliers for Architects Professional Indemnity Insurance by answering a few questions. You will have a choice of providers who are well aware of the regulators requirements so you can purchase your policy and cover within a few minutes with the full knowledge that the policy will be compliant.

The need of contractors having contractor insurance is undeniable. A contractor is financially responsible to clients for every mistake. Claims against contractors are rare, but they happen and can be titanic! In many cases, lawsuits can put a contractor totally out of business. The worst part is that, an agency contract provides no protection in such cases.

So you first have to make some contract liability insurances if you want to keep your head- if not shoulders- above the water in tough times.

A majority of clients would prefer if you have some level of professional indemnity insurance, at least the commonest contractor insurance purchase that supports your independent status. It will ensure your safety from lawsuits against you, and also cover the expenses incurred in paying compensation for damage. It will protect contractors against claims for negligence, loss of data, damage, claims of dishonesty and unintentional breaches of intellectual property. The office insurance package provides the most comprehensive cover you can buy online. It can be custom made to suit the contractors’ needs. It provides expenses cover to legally defend or pursue your rights. It also provides “all-risks” cover for your contents and computers.

Portable equipment worldwide cover provides financial cover for laptops and other equipments like mechanical tools, machines and hardware.

Public liability Insurance covers claims for injury or damage from a third party. It also covers accidental injury you cause to some one or some property while working on your client’s premises.

Employers’ liability Insurance covers any of your employees who sustain an injury while working. Contractors working on an independent basis, that is, having no employees should also take out this cover, as it will cover them for any injury sustained at work.

You should make sure that the sub-contractors you hire also have the insurances, as that reduces your risk of liability and your insurance rate. Legal defense provides legal costs and expenses. TAX, PAYE and VAT protection are other benefits of a contractor’s insurance.

These policies are not very expensive and depend on the level of PI cover, annual turnover of company and number of employees. Having these insurances prove your approach in professional and help in obtaining work in the future.

Professional indemnity insurance is a form of insurance cover that protects practicing professionals from third party claims arising out of any discrepancy in rendering the required services. Reasonably, having adequate indemnity insurance is essential for every one who is engaged in the business of offering expert opinions based on specialized skills and knowledge.

Risk Profile of PI Insurance:

For providing the best insurance cover, an insurer looks into a service provider’s risk profile. Usually, insurers consider everything from types of advices, number of products sold, management or business issues that may arise during the course of providing professional services. In simple words, insurers are more likely to show concern about issues that haven’t come out so far but show significant loss in value. However, it does not mean that insurers overlook general issues where claims arise on usual basis. The decision and need of insurance cover is entirely depends on the individual circumstances and other information that a firm can provider to the insurer. Also, a firm can determine its risk exposure and contact an insurer that can fulfill the requirement. In addition, potential insurers look into the management and business factors when assessing the level of risk for the firm.

Each insurer follows different criteria for assessing risk exposure. Often, they consider following four main areas when calculating a premium:

Income of the firm

Limit of the indemnity or level of excess

Risk assessment of the business

Nature of the business activity

How to make an impressive application for getting adequate risk cover?

When applying for the desired insurance cover, a firm or professional has to prepare an impressive application highlights the strengths. Here are few points that should include in your application form:

• Clean and comprehensive information.

• Full disclosure of all possible facts

• consider risk management and risk.

When shopping for a reputable professional indemnity company, where should you look? There are thousands of brokers that offer good professional indemnity insurance prices, but are their policies tailored to your profession & will they really be there in times of distress? There’s a big difference between cheap professional indemnity and bad professional indemnity. Fortunately, the Internet can be a powerful resource as you shop around.

Online professional indemnity prices

Gone are the days of confusing paperwork and lengthy waits. From your home PC, you can find online professional indemnity insurance prices in a matter of minutes. With a few clicks, you can do what would have taken days just a few years ago. Using a shortlist of professional indemnity insurance prices, you can determine a ball-park figure of what you can expect to pay. But your work isn’t finished yet. Price isn’t everything.

Advice about buying professional indemnity insurance

Of course you want cheap indemnity insurance, but be forewarned: not every professional indemnity insurance policy is suitable for you. Look for specialist PI policies tailored to the needs of freelance professionals & more specifically the industry you work in. Always read policy fine print, paying particular attention to any exclusions. Make sure you compare PI quotes on a ‘like for like basis’ ie are the limits of indemnity ‘any one claim’ or ‘in the aggregate’ also what are the excesses? These can vary from insurer to insurer. Next, check the credentials of the underwriter & the broker whose business should be FSA regulated. Only select reputable professional indemnity suppliers who are financially strong. Lastly, if you already have professional indemnity insurance & are changing to a new insurer make sure you check the new indemnity policy has ‘backdated’ or ‘retroactive’ cover to protect you from work carried out in the past.

In a short time, you should be able to create a solid list of about 3-4 suppliers that offer cheap, but reliable, professional indemnity insurance. Although many brokers will encourage you to buy indemnity insurance immediately, you’ll probably want to speak with someone over the phone before you purchase cover.

You can tell a lot about of company based on how easily you can connect with them via the phone. If they’re hard to reach now, they might be hard to reach if you need to file a claim. Similarly if they struggle to communicate clearly about your business activities its unlikely their professional indemnity policies are suitable.

Article Resource:-

http://www.coulsonpritchard.com/article.asp

know more about Professional Indemnity Insurance:-

Professional Indemnity Insurance|PI Insurance