Legal Liability Insurance
Fast and flexible coverage options including tradies Public Liability Insurance and Products Liability Insurance.
What is Legal Liability Insurance?
Legal Liability Insurance is an insurance package for Australian tradies that includes Public Liability Insurance and Products Liability Insurance.
Protection from Events at Work
Tradies Public Liability Insurance
Public liability insurance is like a safety net for your business. It covers you if a customer, supplier, or even a passerby claims they were injured or their property was damaged because of your work. For tradies, this can mean anything from someone tripping over your tools to accidental damage while you're on a job site. It’s designed to protect your livelihood by covering the legal and compensation costs, so one mishap doesn’t leave you out of pocket - or out of business.
Protection for Damage caused by your Products
Tradies Product Liability Insurance
Products liability insurance covers you if someone claims they were injured or their property was damaged because of a product you’ve sold, supplied, or installed. This includes anything you’ve installed or provided that’s no longer in your physical possession or control. For tradies, this could apply to installed fixtures, equipment, or even advice given with the product. ThisThe policy provides protection by covering legal and compensation costs if these products lead to a claim. Be sure to refer to the policy wording for full details on what’s covered, including any exclusions or conditions.
Common Questions
We've taken the time here to answer common questions we get from Aussie tradies.
What does it actually cover me for?
WHAT EVENTS WILL PUBLIC LIABILITY COVER?
Public Liability Insurance covers you for the amount you become liable to pay as compensation for third party personal injury or property damage. In English, this means that if you accidentally damage something on site (think drilling into a water pipe) or someone is injured because of your work (client's kids tripping over your tools), public liability insurance can pay for the amount that you owe them for water damage to the floorboards or the poor kid's medical bill.
A tradies public liability can also cover them for the legal costs of settling or defending a claim against you. If a client tries to sue, we can cover you for the cost of getting lawyers and other big wigs involved to defend you.
WHAT EVENTS WILL PRODUCTS LIABILITY COVER?
Products liability insurance protects you if a product you’ve supplied, installed, or worked on causes injury or property damage even after it’s left your control. If a hot water system you installed develops a fault and causes water damage to a client's property, this insurance can cover the compensation costs, legal fees, and related expenses. While a warranty might cover defects or replacement, products liability insurance can cover your legal responsibility for installing the product if those defects result in harm or damage.*
What doesn't it cover me for?
WHAT WON'T PUBLIC LIABILITY COVER ME FOR?
A tradies public liability insurance is there to cover tradies for accidents that happen on site, not to pay for dodgy workmanship. If you make a mistake while working, public liability can cover the damage that ensues, be it won't cover the cost of fixing the mistake.
So if you were an electrician doing a switchboard upgrade, and you managed to cause a power surge which damaged some of the clients electrical devices, public liability would cover the cost of replacing the devices (assuming that the events meets the conditions of your policy), but it wouldn't cover the cost of finishing the switchboard.
Or say you were a plumber repairing a hot water system, and you accidentally caused a leak which damaged the clients ceiling. Public liability would cover the cost of repairing the ceiling (given you meet the conditions of your policy, blah blah blah...) but it would not cover the cost of refixing the hot water system.
We can pay for the cost of accidents, but not for shoddy workmanship itself.
WHAT WON'T PRODUCTS LIABILITY COVER ME FOR?
Products Liability covers accidents, not carelessness. If you know a part is faulty and use it anyway, that's on you and you won't be covered. While it does cover the third party property damage or personal injury (given that the conditions of the policy are met), products liability won't cover cost of replacing the defected part itself. The manufacturers warranty can cover the cost of repairs or replacement for the faulty product.
For instance, if a plumber installed a dishwasher and it leaked water due to an internal defect, products liability insurance would cover the water damage to the
How much cover do I need?
The amount of public and products liability insurance a tradie business might need ultimately comes down to the risks it faces. Risks can be evaluated by two factors: their likelihood and their severity. A smart tradie will consider whether the risks that they face are high likelihood, or high severity (hopefully not both), and choose the amount of legal liability accordingly.
It’s important to balance the cost of insurance with the potential financial impact of a claim, ensuring you’re neither underprotected, nor overinsured. Paying $200 a month for insurance on a very low risk makes as little sense as not getting insurance to manage a high risk threat.
How much does it cost?
The cost of any tradie business's public liability insurance and products liability insurance depends on a few factors:
The risks the occupation faces.
A plumber working with gas has different risks at work to a carpenter. Some of these are considered more likely and more severe than others, and due to increased risks, the plumber will typically pay more than a carpenter for tradies insurance.
Tradies with more than one occupation
If you work across the definitions of more than one occupation, e.g. a handyman who does some landscaping work, your policy price will be calculated based upon the occupation with a higher risks - don't worry, you won't be paying for double policies.
The number of employees
The number of employees in the business will also dictate the price of a tradies public liability insurance. Obviously, the more people working, the more that can go wrong (especially with apprentices😅 - just kidding). The more that can go wrong, the higher the cost of covering things going wrong will be.
The amount of coverage
If you choose $5 million of public and products liability insurance rather than $10 million, of course you are going to pay less. However you are not going to pay half.
*all data is based upon a sample of VIZ Insurance customers over the last three years