I'm a carpenter and I run a small business. We work on refurbishments for local businesses. I have a team of tradespeople who work at a range of different sites during the week. Sometimes I leave tools at one site and then go to another site. There's no real supervision when we aren't on site. I'm worried that one of my clients will trip and injure themselves. Should I have public liability insurance?
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Answer by LegalEagle™ staff, Northcote 3070 VIC
- Public liability can protect you financially if your actions cause or contribute to another person's injury. If you are a self-employed tradesperson or a sole trader then you are personally responsible for all of your actions on the worksite. If a person injures themself on one of your job sites and lodges a claim against you then you might be liable to pay for their compensation personally. It is advisable to have public liability insurance to protect yourself and others.
- Some states and territories require certain types of tradespeople to have public liability insurance as a condition of their license such as plumbers in Victoria.
- If you are concerned about the risks then you should certainly investigate public liability insurance.