Third party cover
Contractors public liability
Cover for the moment your work affects somebody you do not employ. If a passerby is injured, or a neighbour’s property is damaged by your work, this answers what you are legally liable to pay, up to the limit on your policy schedule. It does not cover the works you are building, and it does not cover your own staff.
Available for a single project, or on an annual basis across the operations you declare and the insurer accepts. Send us the contract and we will tell you what the liability clause actually requires. Subject to underwriting.
- Who it protects
- Third parties
- What it pays
- Legal liability
- The works
- Not covered
- Your employees
- Not covered
- Available as
- Project or annual
What it covers
Your site, somebody else’s loss
Public liability answers what you are legally liable to pay when your construction work injures someone who is not your employee, or damages property that is neither yours nor the works you are building. The pedestrian on the pavement, the neighbour’s boundary wall, the car parked in the next bay.
It is the policy that faces the outside world, and it is one of several covers a construction site typically carries. Your own contract works sit under Contractors All Risk, your own employees sit under COIDA, and a mistake in advice or design sits under professional indemnity.
Broad form construction liability puts the employer, the contractor, the subcontractors and named consultants under one single project policy instead of each party relying on their own. On a site with several subcontractors that can reduce the argument about whose insurer answers, because the parties named on the policy are insured under the same wording, and subcontractors are not automatically covered just by working on the same site.
In and out
What is in, and what is not
The boundary matters more on this policy than on most, because a claim is sometimes declined here when the loss actually belonged somewhere else.
Covered
-
Injury to third parties
A member of the public, a visitor, or anyone on or near the site who is not employed by you, injured because of your work.
-
Third party property
Damage to property that is not yours and is not the contract works. Neighbouring buildings, services, vehicles and land.
Not covered
-
The works themselves
Damage to what you are building, and the materials for it. That is , which usually carries a third party liability section of its own as well.
-
Your own employees
Injury to your own staff falls under COIDA, the compensation fund. Public liability answers only to people you do not employ.
Before you rely on it
Check the period, not just the limit. Cover for the construction period and cover for work you have already completed are not the same thing, and a policy tied to the works period stops when the works do. Check what your schedule says about the period of insurance, the limit, and whether legal defence costs come out of that limit or sit on top of it.
Common questions
My CAR policy already has a liability section. Do I still need this?
Sometimes not, and it turns on three things: the size of the limit, how long the section runs, and who it names. Those can differ a great deal between a CAR liability section and a standalone construction liability policy, and the only way to know which is wider for your site is to read the two wordings side by side. Send us both and we will tell you whether there is a gap, rather than guess.
Is public liability the same as Contractors All Risk?
No. Contractors All Risk covers the works you are building. Public liability covers injury and damage to people and property outside those works. They answer different claims, and most sites need both.
Does it cover my own staff if they are injured?
No. Injury to your own employees falls under COIDA, the compensation fund. Public liability answers only to third parties, meaning people who are not employed by you.
Does it cover damage to the building I am putting up?
No. That is the contract works, and it sits under Contractors All Risk.
What does a claim actually look like?
- A passerby is injured by material falling from the site
- A neighbour’s wall cracks because of your excavation
- A water main is struck and the property next door floods
- A parked vehicle is damaged by debris from your work
In each case the policy answers what you are legally liable to pay, up to the limit on your schedule, once that liability is established.
What is broad form construction liability?
A single project policy that indemnifies the employer, the contractor, the subcontractors and named consultants for their construction activities on that site, rather than each party relying on their own cover. It is worth asking about on any site where several subcontractors are working at once.
Somebody else’s loss, your name on it?
Send us the liability clause from your contract. We will tell you what limit it requires, whether your Contractors All Risk policy already covers part of it, and what a separate construction liability policy would add.