Engineer Insurance for Independent Contractors

Many skilled engineers embark on their own freelance work without one critical piece of the business infrastructure in place: engineering insurance. Most firms offer liability insurance for their employees, while you were employed; however, as an independent contractor, that responsibility now falls on you alone. Not only are you not covered by your employer's employee benefits plan, but there are no employee benefits plans at all for independent contractors. If you do not have the necessary financial assets to buy an annuity and set up a retirement account, then you may be forced to find your own insurance, and it can be difficult. However, it is possible to purchase the appropriate insurance with your independent contractor status, and this article will provide a short overview of the options that are available. 

The first thing to consider when purchasing engineering liability insurance is the type of insurance that you want to purchase. You must determine whether the insurance that you are thinking of buying covers your employers' liability, or is your independent contractor insurance; it also has to cover you from any claims that you might make on your own. For example, if you're working with a client and you injure yourself on their construction equipment, you would be entitled to compensation under the law as long as you were actually at fault for the accident. But if the equipment malfunctioned due to a faulty design, you might be at fault. In this case, you would not be covered. It is important to determine the exact amount of insurance that you need before you begin to shop around. A good rule of thumb is to purchase enough engineer insurance for every project that you might handle. 

An added benefit to purchasing independent contractor insurance is that you have a greater level of protection against claims that you will make against a construction project. An example might be that you are responsible for installing a security system in a building that is under construction. Unfortunately, you might be responsible for injuries and property damage that might occur to someone who was hurt by the security system during the installation. In this instance, you will want to have enough engineer insurance to pay for any claims made against you, and this type of insurance could make a huge difference in the amount of money that you end up paying out for medical expenses, lost wages, and other damages caused by the project.