Public Liability Insurance for Scaffolders

What public liability insurance covers

Public liability insurance (PL) pays compensation and legal costs where your business is found legally liable for injury to a third party or damage to their property. In scaffolding terms that includes a pedestrian struck by a dropped fitting, a vehicle damaged by a collapsed lift, a neighbour’s conservatory roof damaged by a dropped tube, or a drive damaged by a loaded wagon.

The policy also pays the cost of defending a claim, whether or not you were at fault. Scaffolding claims tend to be contested because the injuries can be serious and the structure is visible to everyone, so defence costs on their own can run to a significant sum.

PL does not cover injury to your own employees, which falls under employers’ liability. It does not cover loss of or damage to your own tubes, boards and fittings, which needs plant and tools cover. It does not pay for putting right defective work, and it never pays fines or penalties, including HSE fines.

How much cover scaffolders are asked for

Policies are sold with a limit of indemnity, which is the most the insurer will pay for any one claim. The standard options are £1 million, £2 million, £5 million and £10 million. In most cases the figure is set by whoever you are working for rather than by you:

• Homeowners and small builders will often accept £1m or £2m.
• Main contractors and housebuilders commonly write £5m into their subcontract orders. Some ask for £10m.
• Local authorities, housing associations, rail and utilities frequently require £10m, and licences to erect on the highway often carry a minimum PL requirement of their own.

A serious injury claim involving long-term care can exceed £1m, and a fall of material onto a busy pavement is the kind of incident that produces one. Moving from £2m to £5m usually adds a modest amount to the premium, as the cost guide explains.

Conditions in scaffolding wordings

Many insurers will not quote scaffolders at all. Those that do manage the risk through conditions on the schedule, and these deserve as much attention as the premium.

Height and depth limits

Most scaffolding policies state a maximum working height, commonly banded at 10m, 15m, 20m or 30m, and sometimes a depth limit for excavations and basements. Work above the stated height is outside the cover unless the insurer has agreed to it, so a claim arising from a taller job will normally be declined. A contractor building independent tied scaffolds to the eaves of four-storey blocks needs more than a 10m limit, and occasional jobs on chimneys or church towers should be declared and endorsed before the work starts.

Declared activities

The proposal form asks what you erect: access scaffolds, birdcages, mobile towers, temporary roofs, shoring, suspended cradles, hoists, edge protection. Anything you do that is not on the form is not rated and may not be covered. Temporary roofs, sheeting and shrink-wrap need particular care because of wind loading; the collapse footage on this site shows two examples.

Reasonable precautions and unauthorised access

Most policies contain a condition requiring you to take reasonable precautions to prevent injury and loss. The courts have tended to read these conditions narrowly, so a missing sign on its own will rarely defeat a claim, but insurers do use the condition where a scaffolder has ignored obvious risks. In practice that means working to SG4:22, removing or guarding ladders out of hours, fitting alarms on occupied buildings where the risk warrants it, lighting the scaffold on the highway and displaying warning signs. If a trespasser climbs an unguarded ladder at night and is injured, those measures are what the insurer will ask about.

Handover and inspection records

Insurers expect to see handover certificates and the inspection reports required under the Work at Height Regulations. A common dispute involves a scaffold altered by another trade after handover. Your handover paperwork shows the structure was compliant when you left it, and who was responsible for it afterwards.

Labour-only and bona fide subcontractors

Labour-only operatives working under your direction are generally treated as your employees for insurance purposes. Damage they cause to third parties falls under your PL, and their own injuries fall under your employers’ liability, so they need to be declared on both. Bona fide subcontractors, who bring their own gang and materials and work to their own method, should carry their own PL. Keep copies of their certificates, and check that your own policy covers your liability for work you subcontract.

Indemnity to principals and contract terms

Most subcontract orders require you to indemnify the main contractor against claims arising from your work, and your policy needs an indemnity to principals clause to respond to that. Check the contractual liability wording too, since some policies exclude liability you have taken on under contract that you would not have had at common law. A main contractor’s commercial team will normally check these clauses before you are allowed on site, and they are easier to arrange when the policy is set up than part-way through a contract.

Hire-and-erect versus erect-only

Where you supply and erect the scaffold, you are responsible for the structure you have built and for any alterations you make, and under most hire terms the material remains your responsibility throughout. Where you erect a client’s own material, responsibilities need setting out in writing: who carries out the weekly inspections, who authorises alterations, and whose insurance responds to what. Weekly inspection after handover is normally the duty of whoever controls the scaffold, usually the principal contractor, unless you are contracted to do it.

How a claim proceeds

In a typical case a fitting falls from a second lift and strikes a pedestrian. Their solicitor writes to you. You notify your insurer straight away, because late notification is itself a breach of most policies, and the insurer appoints a loss adjuster. The adjuster asks for your risk assessment and method statement, the handover certificate, inspection records, the CISRS cards of the gang, and photographs showing the brick guards and fans that were in place. With that evidence the insurer can defend the claim or settle it on reasonable terms. Without it, the insurer has little to work with and the claim is more likely to be settled in full.

The regulations and safety guides on this site go into the paperwork and site practice involved, because they matter at claim stage as much as they do for keeping people safe.

Scaffolders’ public liability FAQs