As a self-employed heating engineer in the UK, you’re exposed to risk. Mere mortals (aka non-heating engineers) might be shocked to learn that you could end up dicing with death on every job!
To run a successful trades business, you must protect yourself, your customers and your work from these risks. Remember, if something goes wrong on the job, heating engineers like you face financial losses, reputational damage and a whole lot of hassle – unless they have insurance. Enter Rhino Trade Insurance with our amazing Heating Engineer Insurance – more on that in just a minute!
There are many hazards that come with the territory of working as a heating engineer, so let’s check out some of the key risks heating engineers face in their work.
The invisible (and potentially deadly) elephant in the room, this is one of the gases that makes up flue gas. CO poisoning can cause dizziness, headaches and can even kill if you’re not able to detect it and act fast. A well-ventilated working area if possible, plus a top-of-the-range CO detector will help, but CO toxicity is still something heating engineers should be hyper-aware of.
You may love them on-screen with Vin Diesel – but not so much while you’re on the job. Working with flammable materials always carries significant risk, made all the greater as a heating engineer when you factor in working in confined spaces. We don’t need to spell it out – things exploding or catching fire can mean serious injuries and property damage.
Ever staggered down an uneven alleyway clutching a clunky old boiler from the 1990’s? Ever crouched in a cupboard in a Victorian terraced house trying to solder a pipe at an awkward angle? Of course you have, you’re a heating engineer! Musco-skeletal injuries are common in this job due to the heavy lifting and uncomfortable positions required.
As well as manual handling injuries, there’s plenty of scope to end up hurt in other ways as a heating engineer. Wielding a Stanley knife, hacksaw and blow torch every day mean there’s always a risk of cuts, bruises, burns and other injuries that may spell a trip to A&E.
You don’t want to get hurt. But, you don’t want your customers or passers-by to get hurt either. Unfortunately, there’s always a risk of this when you’re working alongside customers and the public as a heating engineer, despite your best efforts and adherence to health and safety protocol.
Whether it’s ripping out a boxed-in pipe a little too enthusiastically or causing a slow water leak which destroys a load of plasterwork, you can’t always leave the place exactly as you found it. While no client should chase you down for leaving a few biscuit crumbs, you could find yourself with a liability claim on your hands if you’ve caused more significant damage.
As well as damage to paintwork, plaster, fixtures and fittings, you might find that you’ve damaged a customer’s property while carrying out a job. Working with tools and heavy equipment while wearing steel toe-capped boots means that there’s always a chance that you could knock over a Gibson Les Paul once played by Paul McCartney, shatter the latest flat-screen TV or shred up a priceless Persian rug.
Although they might not immediately jump to mind when we’re talking about work-related risk, working as a self-employed shopfitter comes with a raft of business-related risks that stem from your self-employed status. These range from tax investigations against you, employment disputes, health and safety breaches, criminal prosecutions, restrictive covenants and property disputes. Not having an employer or legal team to steer you right, self-employed heating engineers can find themselves adrift in a confusing legal landscape.
We don’t like the look of these risks! In fact, they’re making us hot under the collar. Luckily, there’s a solution for that, in the form of Heating Engineers Insurance, the giant safety net that all heating engineers working for themselves in the UK need.
Insurance for Heating Professionals is available at a low cost from Rhino Trade Insurance – your friendly, expert trade insurance brokers. You won’t get any BS from us – only the choice of a range of insurance policies which will protect your business (and your customers) from the risks you face.
Here are the main types of insurance that heating engineers should consider:
Public Liability Insurance is the core policy that every single self-employed heating engineer in the UK needs. It will protect you from the costs of third-party injury or property damage claims. These types of claims are relatively common in the hazardous world of heating engineering, and can cost you an absolute fortune to defend and settle out of your own pocket. Public Liability Insurance for Engineers will safeguard your finances against such claims, meaning you can sleep easy at night no matter what life decides to throw at you.
Do you offer professional advice? Do you draw up designs or plans for installations? If so, you may need Professional Indemnity Insurance to safeguard your completed work against claims of negligence or breach of duty. What if you accidentally cause a slow leak in a customer’s home which leads to damp floorboards, warped doors and swollen skirting? They’re likely to come after you to cover the cost of putting this right, which would be several thousand. Don’t worry, if you have Professional Indemnity Insurance, it will step in to smooth things over.
From your gas leak detectors to your trusty blow torch, your tools and equipment accompany you to every job, and you’d be pretty stumped without them. This is why Tools & Equipment Insurance is so important in protecting your tools from theft, loss, and damage. Being able to claim for their repair or replacement in an instant means you don’t need to worry about cancelling any jobs until you can gather the necessary equipment – you’ll have a shiny new set in no time.
If your heating engineering empire is growing and you’ve taken on staff, then the law decrees that you need Employer’s Liability Insurance to protect them financially if they get hurt or ill while working for you. Essentially, it provides a guarantee that you can pay out (to a minimum of £5m) should they require it.
Heating engineers that like to consider every eventuality should consider adding Legal Expenses Insurance to their Heating Engineers bundle. This insurance is the secret weapon of successful heating engineers everywhere, as it offers you up to a £50k legal fund to do anything from contest wrongful arrest, unpick restrictive covenants, defend against unfair employee dismissal claims or take a client to court over non-payment. It’s like having a team of legal suits waiting in the wings to fight your corner.
The number one benefit of having trade insurance as a heating engineer is that it offers your business robust financial protection. If something goes wrong on a job, heating engineers can face huge costs to put things right, whether that’s for injuring someone, setting a legal dispute, compensation for damaged property or even having your tools stolen.
If you cause an accident on a job and someone gets hurt, it stands to reason that they’ll seek compensation for pain, suffering, missed income and inconvenience. Similarly, if you damage something while you’re working, you’ll want to make sure you can pay for it. Whether that someone is a customer, member of the public or one of your employees, you can rest assured that they’ll be fully compensated up to your chosen coverage limit on the relevant policy.
The days of ‘my word is my bond’ are over. Now, potential customers want to see proof that a tradesperson is insured, as this is the only way they can trust that you’ll be able to pay out if something goes wrong.
Having comprehensive insurance protection as a heating engineer will give you the credibility you need to attract new clients (especially those in the government, corporate or public sector). In many cases, insurance is a stipulation of contracts anyway, so you’ll be contractually bound to show those certificates.
Is this your first time checking out Rhino? If so, allow us to introduce ourselves. Rhino Trade Insurance are an award-winning trade insurance broker specialising in insurance for tradespeople in the UK. From plumbers, joiners, electricians, builders, gardeners and even chimney sweeps – we’ve got a tailored policy which protects you from the key risks associated with your trade.
Heating engineers can benefit from Rhino’s expertise in offering customisable policy bundles – built around our must-have Public Liability Insurance – with fantastic coverage at some of the lowest prices around. Only add the policies you need for your business – with limits of coverage which reflect your actual levels of risk.
Not sure where to start? Never fear, Rhino are here to help you build your low-cost, customised bundle of insurance. Simply give our team a call on 0116 243 7904 and get the ball rolling.
In this guide, we'll delve into the risks shopfitters face, explore the types of insurance that can offer protection and explain why many shopfitters trust Rhino Trade Insurance with their business needs.
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