Public liability for people working on property

H

houseclearou

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My parents have two investment properties and use the services of a handyman and gardener to do occasional work. I would think that neither have insurance and was wondering if it is possible for my parents to take out public liability insurance to cover claims from occasional workers? Do you know of any insurers offering such policies? Any ideas of cost?
 
Not sure if public liability would cover them - they are in effect employees whil on the premises. Public Liability is intended to protect against claims from the public, not from employees.
 
read terms and conditions of policy. you may have cover for casual or occasional employees.

However, there is a difference between an employee and an independent contractor. Do they men get paid by the hour, is PRSI paid by your parents, who controls what they do?

Could they be contractors? If that is the case, then your parents liability towards them is not as high as towards an employee.

The important thing to remeber, is that just because a person is injured, it does not automatically follot that they are entitled to compensation. Sometimes people can the the authors of their own misfortune.
 
The people doing any work are occasional workers and definitely not employees. They are paid for a job e.g. to cut grass, unblock toilet, etc. My concern is that if they received an injury while doing a job they may be able to claim against my parents. If they can then is there some form of insurance my parents can take out to protect themselves?
 
Two issues.
  1. If these people are not employed by your parents, then who is employing them. Self-employed is not a satisfactory answer. If you are paying them by the hour or otherwise, then they are your employees for that period. They are definitely not "public"
  2. Remember also that your parents as landlords in this situation are acting in a business capacity and should insure that way. Otherwise they could be in difficulty if a claim arises
 
I think we may be missing the point of my posting, which is asking if there is insurance that can be got to cover my parents in the case of an injury to one of these people. I don't really want to get into the legalities or technicalities of when someone is or isn't an employee etc. Thanks.
 
What kind of work are these people doing? Hope I'm reading your query correctly but if it is just property maintenance then your parents should be covered under their standard household policy, but it's up to them (or you) to check this out, I can't guarantee the extensions on ever household policy.

Michael

[broken link removed]
 
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Thanks all. Michael, you're correct in that there is some cover for occassional workers offered through the home insurance policy. I'm waiting to have a look at the policy to see the extent of this cover. However, the insurance company says that the amount of cover for this element of the policy cannot be increased. But perhaps it will be sufficient for my parents' needs. If not then I'm back to searching for an alternative policy. Any idea who might offer such a policy?
 
Most domestic employees (gardeners, decorators, handy men) are covered under standard house policies for bodily injury while on the premises. Thay have to be employed directly by the policy holder or their family (ie not contractors) and be working on the propoerty. But your parents need to check it out. Odds are they are already covered.

Most policies indemnify up to 2.6 million euro so that should be sufficient.
 
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