Liability insurance

[SimonD]

Do you ask your contractor or in the case of straw being sold off to a third party their contractor for proof or even if they have liability insurance?

Becoming increasingly aware that as the land owner we would be potentially accountable for accidents or incidents on our land. If they don't have the insurance who will the affected parties come looking tp for compensation?

 

[Derrick Hughes]

If someone is on your land you are responasble don't matter if he has cover or not, man dies working on your roof you are in big trouble and insurance don't cover a court claim by Health and Safety

 

[SimonD]

It won't cover any H&S fines but it will cover a civil case , I was just wondering how many people actually checked to ensure the people working on their land are correctly covered.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

H&S fines an go over 10O grand and more how can you cover for that bar ban people off the premises

 

[The_Swede]

H&S fines an go over 10O grand and more how can you cover for that bar ban people off the premises

This seems to come back to several old BFF threads, your only defense here is a squeaky clean risk assessment and resultant working processes... it can be very difficult to achieve IMHO.

Having said that I recall a local story regarding a death contributed towards by unguarded machinery and a lack of training, the actual fine and costs totaled £7.5k from memory, in this context god knows what the circumstances must have to be to get up to £100k. All very difficult irrespective of the fine but put a price on a life and the guilt etc....

 

[JNP]

Rather than checking their insurance you should check their method of work and safety precautions. New buildings is one big area for this with many contractor going down the cheapest route and not using netting or handrails when roofing. Do you really want ro rish thw worst happening just to save a few $$? Yes you will get hit with a huge fine which you will scrape together but how would you live with the knowing that someone died because you wanted to save 2k?

 

[SimonD]

We will be selling straw at a fodder auction, unless we state that the winning bid must get the contractor to supply proof of insurance we will have no knowledge of what they have. I know most out there are extremely professional in their respective fields but I know there are those in te minority that are not and the tendency is for those who do not plan to fall foul of accidents.