PROFESSIONAL INDEMNITY

Professional Indemnity insurance matters

Professional indemnity insurance is not a legal requirement for business but is mandatory in some industries, such as medicine, accounting, law and financial advisers and it is recommended for anyone who is providing professional services or advice in exchange for a fee – like engineers, graphic designers, or IT consultants.

protect your assets & brand reputation if your advice or services cause a client to take legal action against you.

The amount of cover your business needs will depend on the nature of your work and the type of clients you service. If you work with large organisations in heavily regulated industries, then your professional indemnity requirements are likely to be higher.

There are often exclusions, deductibles and limits which apply, so contact an Avoca Insurance Broker to discuss your specific insurance needs.

Have any questions? Call for a quick chat!

Frequently Asked Questions

Is professional Indemnity insurance a legal requirement in Australia?

Professional indemnity insurance is not a legal requirement however it is compulsory for some professionals to hold and maintain Professional Indemnity insurance such as Accountants, Bookkeepers/ BAS and Tax Agents, Solicitors, Financial Advisors and Mortgage Brokers, Real Estate Agents, Architects or some health professionals.

Other professions who provide advice or a professional service and should consider taking out a professional indemnity policy.

Accounts Preparation
Adoption Agencies
Advertising Agencies & Services
Aged Care Consultants
Agricultural Consultant
Agronomists
Aquaculture Consultants
Arbitrators
Archaeologists
Archival Firms
Artists/Art Directors
Authors
BAS Services
Biologist
Book Binders
Bookkeeper
Botanist
Building Designers
Business Coaches
Business Planning
Business Project Management
Business Training Courses
Buyers Agents/Advocates
Career Advisory Services
Cartography Consultants
Catering Consultants
Change Management
Civil Celebrants
Company Search Agencies
Compliance Consultants
Conference Management
Cooking Instructors
Copy Writers
Court Reporters
Draftsperson & The Drawing
Ecology Advisors
Editors
Education Advisory Services
Education Consultants
Electrician
Employment Agents
Energy Consultant
Energy Raters
Engineers
Environmental Consultants
Entomology Consultants
Fauna Consultants
Food Inspectors
Forestry Consultants
Funeral Directors
Gemologists
Geographers
Graphic Designers
Green Auditors
Health & Safety Consultants, Workplace Assessors
Historians
Home Sustainability Assessors
Horticultural Advisors
Hospital Consultants
Hotel Consultants
Human Resource Consulting
Hygiene Consultant
Illustrators
Image Consultants
Import and Export Agents
Industrial Relations Consultants
Insurance Loss Adjusters
Interior Designers
Interpreters
Irrigation Design and Consultants
Landscape Designers
Lapidary (Gemstones) Consultants
Librarians
Literary Agents
Logistic Advisors
Management Consultants
Marketing Consultants
Market Research Analysts
Marriage and Family Counsellors
Mediators
Metallurgy Consultants
Meteorology Advisors
Methamphetamine Testing
Microbiologists
Migration Agents
Multimedia Consultants
Museum Curators
Numismatic (Coins) Advisors
Occupational Health & Safety Consultants
Organisational Structure and Staffing
Philatelic (Stamps) Advisors
Photographer
Pool Safety Consultants
Private Investigators
Process Servers
Property Title Searchers
Publicists
Public Record Search Firms
Public Relation Advisors & Firms
Quality Control Advisors
Recruitment Consultant
Registered Training Organisations
Relocation Agents
Risk Management Consultants
Robotics Advisors
Secretarial Services
Sewage Consultants
Shipping and Freight Forwarding
Sociologists
Solar Energy Consultants
Statisticians
Strategic Planning
Sustainable Assessors and Auditors
Tax Agent
Technical Writers
Textile Designers
Tourist Bureau and Guides
Town and Country Planning
Training
Traffic Management
Translators
Travel Agents
Viticulture Consultants
Water Brokers
Water Conservation Advisors
Wedding Planners
Wind Energy Consultants
Wool Brokers and Classification
Workflow Efficiencies
Workplace Assessors
Zoologists

What is a consequential loss exclusion?

Insurers can look to limit their exposure to consequential financial loss by limiting claims to rectification costs only and excluding consequential losses such as:

loss of profit;
loss of use of any plant or facility;
loss of earning capacity;
loss of goodwill;
loss of contract;
delay or interruption of business;
depreciation of any kind; or
loss due to delay.

What occupations would it typically be applied to?

Claims from consequential financial loss are costly for insurers to defend and are often difficult to value or rate by usual methods.
The occupations that have the highest exposure to consequential financial loss include those involved in, or providing services to, products, commodities or supply chains as they often include loss from business interruption, downtime or accumulation exposures, and include:

Utilities/energy (water, gas, electricity) or technology (data/internet) where the services are used by other businesses
Manufacturing/heavy industry where downtime of plant or machinery leads to loss of production or supply of products/commodities
Transport/logistics that cause supply chain delays

What can your client do to mitigate consequential loss?

Insureds can look to limit their exposure to consequential loss in a few ways:

Obtaining peer review or third party sign-off on design work involved in the above activities/occupations (so any claims can be subrogated proportionally against these entities)
Contractually, by excluding consequential loss under contract or limiting their liability under contract to the cost of the contract or to rectification costs only

Ensure they review the contracts they sign or get independent legal advice to ensure they are not picking up any unexpected or assumed liability under the contract

info@avoca.com.au

08 9387 8588