How Liability Insurance Effectively Covers Engineering Consultants

Engineering Consultants

Engineering consultants come in all disciplines and industries. They also come in all job titles and from various sized firms. What they have in common, besides being highly skilled, trained professionals, is that they are team players that work with other professionals from several fields to ensure that their designs are executed to the tiniest detail and that their forward-thinking visions help prepare Canadian infrastructure for the road ahead – often by charting the course and blazing the trail themselves.

Whether your specialty is in design, scientific, technical, coordination, construction, business development, managerial or some hybrid of any or all of the above, as an engineering consultant, your potential for liability and the risks that come from that liability need to be addressed.

Professional Liability Insurance for Engineering Consultants is a must for consultant engineers, and not just because of regulation. With the dollar amounts attached to the projects you undertake, the costs to defend against litigation and size potential of awards for damages are enough to bankrupt (or at least severely harm) even the largest of multinational engineering consulting firms.

The good news is that professional liability Insurance for engineering consultants is customizable and can be scaled up or down as needs change. So whether you’re a sole practitioner, small- or medium-sized operation or a large integrated firm, our broker-advocates at ALIGNED strive to get you the most comprehensive insurance coverage, on- or under-budget, from the top insurers in Canada that provide professional liability insurance for engineering consultants.

Engineering Consultation, Where’s the Risk?

By definition, risk is unpredictable and often arrives at a time and from a place it was least expected. That being said, according to Consulting Engineers of Ontario (CEO), “The solutions and services that consulting engineers provide include:

pre-feasibility and investment studies
social-impact and environmental-impact studies
preliminary and final designs for construction or engineering work
supervision and inspection of construction work, including on-site project management
technical assistance and advice
asset-management studies.”¹

Clearly, the short list above can not encapsulate such a broad and diverse profession. What the above list does confirm however, is the massive amount of responsibility that comes with engineering consultation. And obviously, that level of responsibility brings with it a commensurate level of potential liability.

Professional Liability Insurance for Engineering Consultants, What Does it Do?

As alluded to above, professional liability insurance for engineering consultants is cover for costs associated with a lawsuit claiming any of the following errors, omissions and negligence related to professional services rendered by an engineering consultant:

failing in a duty of care to a client causing him/her/a corporation losses
client documents lost, stolen or damaged while under your care or control
errors, omissions or negligence by a covered employee
Defamation, libel and slander
Copyright and trademark infringement

The above list is not a complete list of potential causes for action that can be covered by a Professional Liability Insurance for Engineering Consultants policy brokered through ALIGNED. For more information, speak with one of our engineering consultants insurance experts. They will also review with you the costs that professional liability insurance for engineering consultants can cover. The basics are as follows:

Lawyer’s fees, investigation costs and other costs to defend a covered lawsuit
Revenue lost during time spent in court/hearings
Settlements reached to avoid trial
Court-awarded damages

Be sure to ask the ALIGNED engineering consultants insurance expert about other benefits that are included in these insurance policies.

Other Insurance Coverage Engineering Consultants Need to be Bundled With Liability Insurance

We take risk management seriously and so should your firm. Below are links to other coverages that we recommend in combination with liability insurance for engineering consultants.

Commercial General Liability Insurance protects against liabilities not covered by liability insurance for engineering consultants. This insurance coverage is standard for all businesses and can protect engineering consultants from lawsuits alleging personal injury, property damage and false advertising that are not specifically related to engineering consulting services.

Commercial Property Insurance covers buildings, offices (including home offices) and their contents from named perils such as fires, floods, gas explosions, vandalism, etc.

Cyber Liability & Privacy Insurance can’t protect you from experiencing a breach but it can prevent a breach from becoming a disaster. It’s open season on businesses of all shapes and sizes thanks to ransomware. Small- and medium-sized firms are targeted for quick and easy payoffs while bigger organizations face higher ransom demands. Regardless of your firm size, as an engineering consultant you can’t afford to get locked out of your systems, your data or your devices. Cyber Liability insurance can cover ransom costs and other expenses resulting from a cyber event.

Employment Practices Liability (EPL) Insurance can provide insurance coverage for damages and defense costs for employment-related claims including discrimination, harassment, invasion of privacy, wrongful and constructive dismissal and more.

Directors & Officers (D&O) / Board Insurance is necessary to attract and retain top talent to serve as directors/officers of your engineering consultation firm. Directors and officers face personal liability above and beyond what’s covered by liability insurance for engineering consultants as they are answerable to stockholders, governmental bodies and the general public for the business decisions they make.

Commercial Auto Insurance As engineering consultants, your team is constantly on the road. Relying on personal auto insurance when travelling for work purposes is a disaster waiting to happen.

ALIGNED – Experts in Professional Liability Insurance for Engineering Consultants

The policies we customize are as diverse as the engineering consultation profession. As mentioned above, our team at ALIGNED is more than brokers – we’re advocates that work to get our clients fully covered at rates they’re happy with. Contact an advocate to get a free, no-obligation quote on liability insurance for engineering consultants in minutes.

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