Health & Safety Consultants Insurance
Health and safety consultants can face a combination of professional indemnity, regulatory investigation and liability exposures. Where a consultant acts as a competent person or takes on duties under CDM, the responsibilities can extend beyond providing advice alone. When something goes seriously wrong, the Health and Safety Executive investigates with a view to prosecution, and the advice the organisation was given becomes evidence.
That changes what the insurance is for. The valuable part of the cover is often not damages but representation: legal costs for the consultant during an investigation, at an inquest, or where a prosecutor examines whether the consultant's advice contributed. Those costs arrive long before anybody establishes liability.
Acting as a client's competent person, or as principal designer under CDM, moves the consultant from adviser to duty holder. That is a genuinely different position, because statutory duties attach to the role itself rather than to the quality of the advice given.
We can advise health and safety consultancies on professional indemnity written for competent person and CDM roles, and on the criminal defence and investigation cover the work actually calls for.
Common claims and risk exposures
The exposures that produce claims in this trade, rather than a generic list.
An incident after your advice
The claim and the investigation both look at what was advised, what was assessed and what was not. A serious injury or fatality produces scrutiny of the consultant's file regardless of whether the advice was followed.
Acting as the competent person
Where the consultant is the organisation's competent person, the duty sits with them in substance. The client's defence often becomes that it relied entirely on the consultant, which points the whole exposure in one direction.
CDM principal designer duties
A statutory appointment with duties to plan, manage and coordinate pre construction health and safety. Failure is a regulatory matter as well as a claim, and it is examined after any site incident.
Risk assessments and method statements
Documents relied on daily by people doing physical work. A generic assessment that does not reflect the actual task is the finding that appears most often after an incident, and it is difficult to defend.
Audits and inspections that missed something
Where a consultant inspected and reported no issue, and the same issue caused an incident afterwards, the inspection scope and its limitations decide the position.
The cover we arrange
We arrange professional indemnity and related insurance around the services you provide, the clients you work with and the contractual requirements you face. The appropriate cover and limits will depend on your individual activities and the terms available from insurers.
Professional indemnity
Claims arising from negligent advice, assessments, audits and appointments held. Should name the competent person and CDM roles explicitly where they are undertaken.
- Negligent advice and assessment
- Competent person appointments
- CDM principal designer duties
- Defence costs included
Investigation and criminal defence costs
Cover that can be particularly important in this profession. Representation during HSE investigation, at inquests and where a prosecution examines the consultant's contribution.
- HSE investigation representation
- Inquest attendance
- Legal costs before liability is decided
- Check the limit, not just the inclusion
Public and employers' liability
Injury and damage during site visits, inspections and audits, which in this profession means regular attendance at working sites of every kind.
- Site visits and audits
- Working construction sites
- Employers' liability, legally required
- Limits commonly £5m or £10m
Training delivery
Where the practice also delivers training, that is a separate activity with its own exposure, including injury during practical sessions.
- Course content and certification
- Injury during practical training
- Venues and equipment
- Declared as a separate activity
Run off
Continuing cover after the practice ceases. Investigations and claims follow incidents, which can happen years after the advice was given and the file closed.
- Continues after the practice ceases
- Incidents happen later
- Commonly six years
- Arranged before closure
What an underwriter will ask
Having these to hand shortens the process considerably, and usually improves the terms.
- Fee income split between retained advice, audits, CDM appointments and training
- Sectors advised, with construction, manufacturing, agriculture and care stated separately
- Whether the practice acts as competent person, and for how many organisations
- Whether CDM principal designer appointments are held, and on what scale of project
- The largest client by headcount and by site risk
- Whether asbestos, confined spaces, work at height or machinery guarding advice is given
- Qualifications held, including IOSH and NEBOSH levels
- Claims, investigations and notified circumstances over the last six years
What affects the cost of your insurance?
The main factors insurers consider when assessing the premium.
Sectors advised
Construction, agriculture, manufacturing and care are rated above office based clients, because the consequence of a failure is physical and the regulator's interest is higher.
Competent person appointments
Holding the role rather than advising on it concentrates the exposure on the consultancy, and the number of organisations relying on it is rated directly.
CDM appointments
Principal designer duties on construction projects are a statutory role, rated on project scale and on whether residential or high risk work is involved.
Defence costs limit
Investigation costs are the most likely call on the policy in this class, so the limit and whether costs are in addition to it are worth as much attention as the indemnity figure.
Conditions and exclusions to consider
Terms vary between insurers, so treat these as the questions to ask rather than a description of any one policy.
Fines and penalties
A fine imposed on the consultancy is generally uninsurable, and so is a fine on the client. What is insurable is the cost of representation and any civil damages, which is why the defence costs limit matters.
Deliberate breaches
Knowingly signing off an unsafe arrangement, or producing an assessment for work never examined, is outside cover and outside any professional defence.
The client's own failures
Where advice was given and not implemented, the chain breaks. That defence depends on written advice and a record of what was recommended, dated at the time.
Asbestos where not declared
Asbestos surveying and management is rated separately across the market, and undertaking it under a general safety consultancy policy is a material disclosure issue.
Common questions
The HSE is investigating our client and has asked for our files.
Notify your insurer immediately, before responding. Investigation representation is the part of the cover most likely to be used in this profession, and the costs start before anybody decides whether you contributed. Your file is evidence either way, so it should not be reorganised or added to at this point.
Does being the client's competent person change our exposure?
Substantially. Advising leaves the duty with the employer; being their competent person means their defence is that they relied on you. Declare the role, and the number of organisations you hold it for, because it is rated differently from advisory work.
Can insurance pay a fine?
No. Fines are generally uninsurable, for you and for your client. What insurance does is pay for representation and for civil damages, which in practice is where most of the money goes anyway, since investigations are long and legal costs mount well before any penalty is decided.
Our advice was ignored and there was an incident.
That is the strongest defence available, and it lives or dies on documentation. Written advice, dated, with a record of what was recommended and any reservation you expressed, is what separates a straightforward defence from a difficult one.
How do I get a quote from True Risk Solutions?
Call 01304 262880 and speak to a broker, or email info@truerisksolutions.co.uk with what you do, what you need cover for and a phone number with the best time to call, and a broker will call you back. We need a phone number to quote, because the cover and the price depend on questions that are quicker to answer on a call than by email.
Speak to a specialist who understands your industry
Tell us about your business and the work you undertake, and we will come back to you with cover options built around it. Call 01304 262880, or email us with a phone number and the best time to call and a broker will ring you back.