Contractor Insurance

Self-employed contractors have risks that other business owners may never encounter. There are health risks that include getting injured on the job and prevent you from working for extended period. However, there are also risks that affect third parties such as your work activities causing harm to your clients person, damage to their property or loss of income or reputation to their business. Some of the most necessary insurance products available for contractors in Australia include:

• Public Liability Insurance
• Professional Indemnity Insurance
• Personal Accident Insurance
• General Property and Tools

Public Liability Insurance for independent contractors

Public liability insurance for contractors protects contractors when there is injury or damage to a third party or third party property, such as a client or the client’s property. This coverage is the most crucial insurance for any contractor and for some occupations is required by law or to get on site.

Professional Indemnity Insurance for private contractors

Professional Indemnity Insurance in Australia is also known as errors and omissions insurance. This coverage is meant for professional services, such as IT contractors and other professional service providers. This type of insurance can protect your company’s assets if damage occurs because you did not do something properly or there is ambient claim against you.. For instance, for IT contactors ,if you did not conduct due diligence and installed virus-ridden software on your client’s computer, which caused their entire system to crash, your professional indemnity insurance may cover the claim. This type of coverage is another type of insurance that most professional contractors that provide advice for a fee need.

Personal Accident Insurance for self-employed contractors

As a self-employed contractor your personal safety is your livelihood. Time away from work from an accident will have a direct impact on your income and that a long period away can negatively affect your savings, family and lifestyle. Personal Accident Insurance may help you and your family pay for essential bills and other financial commitments when you have an accident.*

General Property and Tools Insurance

As a contractor, you may have mobiles, laptops and tools that allows you to do your job. If your property is damaged or stolen, your business cannot operate effectively. Some of this equipment can be so costly you will be put out of business replacing it. General property insurance can help you keep operating effectively. It can provide needed funds to replace such property if anything were to happen to it that could hurt your business.

Professional indemnity insurance coverage is intended for professional service contractors. These include IT contractors, business coaches, engineering contractors, project managers, marketing consultants and graphic designers, to name a few. These professional contractors require professional indemnity insurance because of the risk around the advice and services they provide.

If a professional contractor makes an error, such as providing incorrect information , makes an omission in due diligence, or provides advice that leads to damages or losses for a client , a client may seek damages from the contractor. Professional Indemnity Insurance may help these contractors stay in business by paying for legal defence costs, and for damages if awarded against them.

Contractor public liability cost are directly related to your business risk and income. The higher the occupation risk and more money your business earns, the more costly the insurance policy can be. Since public liability insurance is designed to pay your clients when there is an issue that causes physical or property damage, the costs to insure your independent contractor business can be very reasonable compared to what you may have to pay out from your own pocket if damages were sought from you.

Contractor public liability policies for sole traders starts around $580. However, you may pay thousands of dollars or more for a policy if you operate a large contracting business with many employees.