Liability coverage

[WWTEng]

For a newly licensed engineer, do you have to fill out some kind of paperwork to be placed under company's professional insurance? Or the fact that you are licensed and sealing calcs/drawings officially for the company enough to assume your work is covered by company insurance?

 

[JAE]

I suppose it might depend on the country or location of your practice, but in the midwest USA typically if your work is as an employee of a corporation, the work is for a client of teh corporation (i.e. under contract), and the corporation's logo is on the plans, you are covered under the corporation's insurance. Not sure if the logo is even required.

 

[kylesito]

As JAE said, you are covered as an employee not individually...usually. I suppose it's possible your company insures its engineers individually and then reimburses them for it but I would think this is highly unlikely and I personally have never heard of it being structured that way.

Of course, this also means that any work you do outside of your company will probably be on your own risk so be carefull when considering those side jobs (and they will come up at some point).

Congratulations on getting the PE.


PE, SE
Eastern United States

"If a builder builds a house for someone, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built falls in and kills its owner, then that builder shall be put to death!"
~Code of Hammurabi

 

[WWTEng]

JAE, Kylesito,

Thanks for the input. I figured that as long as you were sealing a job for the company, you would be covered by the company insurance but wanted to double check still.

 

[SteelPE]

While I am not up on my insurance policies, I would definately make sure that anything you signed at least had the company logo/letterhead on it.

 

[jgailla]

Also read your employee manual to ensure it covers your liability insurance, or get something in writing. Civil design or geotech firms will normally extend liability coverage to you, but if you work for a company that is not focused on design engineering, you may be liable. I have seen this in firms run by environmental people who do not necessarily think about liability to the same extent as engineers.

 

[grantstructure]

You'll get a much better answer if you ask your employer about their liability coverage, I think. It's a conversation you should have as you begin sealing drawings for them, and a chance to remind them of how clever and valuable you are--and the fact that you're thinking about liability issues should be a positive as well.

 

[Ron]

Be very careful if asked to sign anything. Usually this means there's an indemnity clause in there that relieves the corporation of responsibility for you.

In general, individuals are usually covered by the firm's policy, but keep in mind that engineers can be sued separately from their corporate entity in many states.

 

[dik]

...and in some jurisdictions, they can be sued by their employer!

Dik