dtn6770
Mechanical
- Jul 10, 2006
- 200
Is it common for professional liability insurance policies to contain bodily injury and property damage exclusions?
I’ve spent over a year convincing my employer that certain services they provide can be considered engineering services and that they need to have properly licensed staff and be a registered firm. It was a long and somewhat rough road but the company is a registered firm at this point.
I’ve recently been given a copy of the professional liability policy that covers the company and its employees and am somewhat put off by a bodily injury and property damage exclusion endorsement. The nature of our services is the evaluation of clients’ used process equipment leading up a change in performance characteristics (more flow, higher pressure, etc.). With the bodily injury and property damage exclusion my understanding is that the policy will only address claims concerning botched engineering that manifests itself as failed performance. However, there won’t be coverage for botched engineering that manifest itself as a ruptured pipe or vessel, gas release, explosion or fire and the ensuing claims for equipment repair/replacement or for any resulting injuries.
Unless I’m missing something I don’t think the policy, in its current form, addresses the scenarios that it’s most likely to be needed for. As such I’m not comfortable with the level of protection the policy provides the company or me personally.
I assume professional liability insurance can be provided with bodily injury and property damage coverage but I image it comes with a higher premium.
Comments…opinions…
I’ve spent over a year convincing my employer that certain services they provide can be considered engineering services and that they need to have properly licensed staff and be a registered firm. It was a long and somewhat rough road but the company is a registered firm at this point.
I’ve recently been given a copy of the professional liability policy that covers the company and its employees and am somewhat put off by a bodily injury and property damage exclusion endorsement. The nature of our services is the evaluation of clients’ used process equipment leading up a change in performance characteristics (more flow, higher pressure, etc.). With the bodily injury and property damage exclusion my understanding is that the policy will only address claims concerning botched engineering that manifests itself as failed performance. However, there won’t be coverage for botched engineering that manifest itself as a ruptured pipe or vessel, gas release, explosion or fire and the ensuing claims for equipment repair/replacement or for any resulting injuries.
Unless I’m missing something I don’t think the policy, in its current form, addresses the scenarios that it’s most likely to be needed for. As such I’m not comfortable with the level of protection the policy provides the company or me personally.
I assume professional liability insurance can be provided with bodily injury and property damage coverage but I image it comes with a higher premium.
Comments…opinions…