Are we the only ones bothering

As a specialist subcontractor, we are required by main contractors to establish that we hold Public and Employers Liability Insurance, often by way of a questionnaire. Surprisingly, most seek only to establish that policies are in force but omit to ask questions about policy exclusions.

We are often required to work at height. This is no problem to us, as our policy does not have an exclusion clause limiting the height at which we may work. But, through employees that have joined us from other organisations, we understand that our competitors’ insurances do have exclusion clauses that limit the height of work, but it would appear that this is ignored unless the specific question is asked. We would ask main contractors to consider the risk they are taking by employing any subcontractor to carry out work at height without first establishing policy exclusions. Many may be surprised to learn that they are employing subcontractors who are, in effect, uninsured.