Tradesman Cover FAQs

A. Your policy provides Public and Products Liability protection (with an option to include Employer's Liability), against your legal liability to pay compensation, claimant’s costs and expenses following accidental bodily injury including death, illness disease to any person including employees, arising out of the course of their employment and loss or damage to property which is both material and tangible, arising out of or in connection with your business.

The standard Limits of Indemnity provided are:

• Employers Liability (when included): €13,000,000 any one claim and unlimited any one period of insurance.
• Public Liability: €6,500,000 any one claim and unlimited in any one period of insurance.
• Products Liability: €6,500,000 any one claim and in the aggregate in any one period of insurance.

A. Each policy provides Public/Products Liability insurance, with an option to add Employer's Liability cover. Where your insurance includes either Employers Liability or Public Liability Only  (Section 1A or 2) your payments to Labour Only Sub Contractors will be insured up to a max of €7,500 per year, unless you have specifically advised us otherwise and Bona Fide Sub Contractors up to €150,000 or 25% of your turnover whichever is the lesser*. Cover for higher amounts are readily available, for a small additional premium, although you must inform us in advance if you expect either of these limits to be exceeded.

In addition each policy provides cover for:

• Contractual Liability (subject to the terms of the policy we will indemnify the policyholder in respect of liability which arises out of the performance of any contract or agreement)
• Cross Liability (in the event the policyholder named in the schedule comprises more than one party, we treat each as though a separate policy had been issued to them.
• Compensation for court attendance up to a maximum of €7,500 in any one period of insurance
• Legal expenses arising from Health and Safety Legislation in respect of any criminal proceedings brought in respect of a breach of the Health and Welfare at Work Act 1989 or similar legislation in the Republic of Ireland.
• Where your Insurance quotation includes Employers Liability Cover (Section 2 applicable), cover extends to include one Non-Manual Employee performing Clerical & Administrative Duties only, in addition to your disclosed number of employees. All other Employees & Directors must be included within the declaration of Employee number at inception of Policy Cover.

The Broker Options Tradesman policy does not require you to disclose wages estimates, nor do we require an adjustment at the end of each period of insurance.All Material Facts must be disclosed. Disclosures should be clear and specific and is a requirement throughout the policy period.

* You are required to check that all Bona-Fide Sub Contractors employed hold their own Employers and Public Liability insurance appropriate to the work being carried out.

A. Yes: In line with all Liability Insurances, there are some exclusions and limitations.

• No cover is provided for employees who are operating offshore, or where compulsory motor insurance is required, where Employer's Liability Insurance is included.
• Damage to property belonging to the policyholder or under the custody or control of the policyholder or any employee is excluded. (This exclusion does not however extend to property including motor vehicles belonging to an employee or visitor).
• Liability arising out of the ownership or use of any motor vehicle where compulsory cover is required under Road Traffic Act legislation, or any aircraft, or mechanically powered water vessel, is excluded.
• Liability in respect of any judgement or award made in the courts of the United States or Canada.
• The costs associated with remedying any defects or alleged defects in land or buildings or structures disposed of by the policyholder are excluded.

In addition we are unable to offer cover arising out of or in connection with:

any work on or in, or involving

• work on gasholders, towers, steeples, bridges, viaducts, blast furnaces, chimney or well shafts, dams or tunnels, mines, colliery winding gear and hangers for any purpose.
• work involving the making of excavations exceeding three metres in depth from the surface.
• work at a height greater than 15m from the ground surface or if working internally a height greater than 15m from the floor surface
• any work of demolition involving:
  • a ball and chain,
  • a method designed and/or intended to demolish any structure or part thereof, in one sudden and uninterrupted process or
  • the use of explosives.
• piling, the use of explosives, water diversion, quarrying, tunnelling or work under water.
• the felling or lopping of trees
• work in or on power stations, nuclear installations, refineries, bulk storage tanks, oil gas or chemical works, aircraft, hovercraft, watercraft, wharves, piers or jetties, railways, railway stations or airports (air-side).
• Stand-alone Roofing Contracts not forming part of a contract for the erection, reconstruction, alteration or repair of buildings or structures

A. Yes the Broker Options Tradesman Policy covers "Hot Work". However the Insured is required to take certain safety precautions - see policy wording conditions applicable to 1 A and 1B Clause 1 - Burning Welding and Cutting conditions:

1. It is a condition precedent to liability under this Section that the following precautions shall be adhered to on each occasion where the Insured or persons acting on behalf of the Insured are using any oxyacetylene or electric welding or cutting/grinding equipment or blow lamp or blow torch or hot air gun away from the Insured’s own premises the immediate area in which the operation is to be carried out must be segregated to the greatest practicable extent by the use of screens made of metal and/or fire retardant material.
2. the immediate area in which the operation is to be carried out must be segregated to the greatest practicable extent by the use of screens made of metal and/or fire retardant material.
3. the whole of this segregated area must be adequately cleaned and freed from combustible material before operations commence.
4. if work is to be carried out overhead, the area beneath must be similarly cleaned and combustible material removed. Combustible floors/substances in or surrounding this segregated area must be liberally covered with sand or protected by overlapping sheets of incombustible material
5. where work is being carried out in any enclosed area an additional Employee of the Insured or an Employee of the occupier shall be present at all times to guard against an outbreak of fire
6. no work should be carried out unless specifically authorised by the occupier who should also be asked to approve the safety arrangements.
7. the following must be kept available for immediate use near the scene of operations - suitable and fully charged fire extinguishers and/or
8. before "burning off" metal work built into or projecting through walls or partitions an examination should be made to confirm that the other end of the metal is not in a hazardous proximity to combustible material which may be ignited by the conduction of heat
9. Furthermore where the Insured or persons acting on behalf of the Insured burns debris it is a Condition precedent to liability under this Policy that the following precautions shall be taken on each occasion
10. Fires to be in a cleared area and at a distance of at fifteen meters from any property
11. Fires not to be left unattended at any time
12. A suitable fire extinguisher to be kept available at the scene of the operations for immediate use
13. Fires to be extinguished at least one hour prior to leaving site at the end of each working day

A. It is a condition precedent to liability under this policy that the Insured has an adequate Safety Statement as required by Section 20 of the Safety Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 .

We recommend, if they have not done so already to visit the Health and Safety Authorities "BeSMART", on-line facility at: http://www.hsa.ie, which covers many building and allied trades occupations, and where you can complete your own Safety Statement, and Risk Assessments.

A.  No; if you own a retail sale-shop or outlet as aprt of your business, you will need to a separate Retail Sale-shop policy

A. This is known as the "Policy Excess". For Employer's Liability claims (where covered) there is no policy excess, however you will be required to meet the first €500 of any claim under your Public/Products Liability Section of the policy.

A. All claims and enquiries should be addressed to:

Tokio Marine Europe S.A.
33, Rue sainte Zithe
L-2763 Luxembourg,
Email: liabilityclaims@thmcc.com
Telephone: +352 2880 37

A.  We aim to provide a premier service. However, we know sometimes things occur and if you need to complain or you feel that we have not kept our promise, please contact your insurance adviser in the first instance.

If you wish to contact us directly:

Managing Director, Worldwide Insurance Brokers and Advisors Limited,
Unit 20, Sandyford Office Park,
Sandyford,
Dublin  D18 P5V0.
Tel: +353 1 2948669
Fax: +353 1 6968966
Email: info@worldwide.ie

Alternatively you can contact:

The Head of Compliance
Tokio Marine Europe S.A.
31-33 Rue Sainte Zithe
L-2763 Luxembourg

Should Underwriters be unable to resolve any difficulty directly with you to your satisfaction, you may be entitled to refer the dispute to the Insurance Ombudsman at the ACA or to the Insurance Supervisory Authority In Luxembourg (Commissariat Aux Assurances – CAA) who will review your case and who may be contacted at:

ACA
Service Mediation
12, rue Erasme
L-1468 Luxembourg
www.aca.lu

or

CAA
7, boulebard Joseph II
L-1840 Luxembourg
Email: commassu@commassu.lu
www.caa.lu

Should you remain dissatisfied with the final response from the above or if you have not received a final response within forty (40) business days from the date of the complaint being made, you may be eligible to refer your complaint to the Financial Services Ombudsman (FSO).

The contact details of the FSO are as follows:

Financial Services Ombudsman
3rd Floor, Lincoln House,
Lincoln Place,
Dublin 2
Telephone: 01-6620 899
Fax: 01-6620 890
Email: enquiries@financialombudsman.ie

The complaints handling arrangements as outlined above are without prejudice to your rights in law.

The European Commission Online Dispute Resolution Platform (ODR)

If you were sold this product online or by other electronic means and within the European Union (EU) you may refer your complaint to the EU Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platform. Upon receipt of your complaint the ODR will escalate your complaint to your local dispute resolution service – this process is free and conducted entirely online.  You can access the ODR platform on http://ec.europa.eu/odr. This platform will direct insurance complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service. However, you may contact the FOS directly if you prefer, using the details as shown above.