Electrical Manufacturing Insurance Explained

What Insurance Does an Electrical Manufacturer Typically Need?

There is no single “electrical manufacturing insurance policy”. Most businesses build a programme around their premises, people, products and processes. The right mix depends on what you make (connectors, cables, harnesses, modules, PCBs, sensors, passive components), how you test and certify, where you sell, and what your contracts require.

Most programmes for electrical components manufacturing include a core set of covers:

• Employers’ liability (usually compulsory in the UK if you employ staff).
• Public liability (injury/property damage to third parties arising from your operations).
• Products liability (injury/property damage caused by products you supply).
• Property insurance (buildings, contents, stock, equipment, tools).
• Business interruption (protect gross profit/cashflow after insured disruption).

Then, depending on exposure, you may add specialist covers such as machinery breakdown, product recall, professional indemnity (design/specification), cyber and environmental liability.

1) Employers’ Liability (EL) – Protecting Your Workforce

Employers’ liability insurance protects your business if an employee alleges injury or illness caused by their work. In electrical manufacturing, exposures can include manual handling, machinery operation, soldering fumes, cleaning agents, repetitive strain, noise, and general workplace injury risks.

EL is usually legally required in the UK (with limited exceptions). The most common issues we see are not “whether EL is in place” but whether the policy schedule correctly reflects:

• Headcount and wage roll
• Labour-only subcontractors (if applicable)
• Overseas work, site visits or installation activity
• Heat work, soldering, chemicals and COSHH controls

Good risk controls — training, machine guarding, safe systems of work, COSHH assessments — don’t just reduce incidents; they also help maintain competitive premiums.

2) Public Liability (PL) – Your Premises and Operations

Public liability covers your legal liability for third-party injury or third-party property damage arising from your operations (for example, a visitor injury at your premises, or accidental damage caused during deliveries or onsite work).

For manufacturers, PL also matters because it often interacts with:

• Premises risk (fire, slips/trips, contractors onsite)
• Loading/unloading and delivery activity
• Occasional installation or commissioning work
• Onsite testing / service work at customer premises (if you do it)

A common pitfall is having a policy that is written narrowly for “office-based” activity while the business is actually operating machinery and storing chemicals, stock and WIP. We make sure the description of business and activities is accurate.

3) Products Liability – The Core Exposure for Component Manufacturers

Products liability covers your legal liability for injury or property damage caused by products you supply. For electrical components, “property damage” can include damage to other equipment, systems or infrastructure caused by failure, overheating, arcing or fire — and in some sectors the consequences can be significant.

Underwriters will look at:

• End-use sectors (automotive, aerospace, rail, marine, industrial controls, consumer electronics)
• Territory (UK/EU/Worldwide, and whether USA/Canada is included)
• Quality control, testing regime and traceability
• Volume shipped and batch risk
• Contract terms and required liability limits

The common gap: product liability may not cover the cost of recalling or replacing your own faulty products unless recall/withdrawal cover is added. That’s why we treat product liability and recall together as part of the same exposure.

4) Property Insurance – Buildings, Contents, Stock & WIP

Property cover protects your physical assets: buildings (if owned), tenant improvements, contents, tools, stock, and work-in-progress. For manufacturers, the key is making sure values reflect replacement cost and that the policy is not based on “office” assumptions.

Things we pay close attention to include:

• Stock and WIP values (including peak seasonal levels)
• High-value plant and specialist equipment
• Fire protections (alarms, sprinklers, compartmentation, housekeeping)
• External storage, yard risk and waste storage
• Whether goods are stored offsite or at third-party locations

Property insurance is often the trigger for business interruption, so the policy structure needs to be coherent: if your property policy doesn’t include a peril, your BI may not respond either.

5) Business Interruption – The Cover That Protects Cashflow

Business interruption insurance protects your gross profit and ongoing costs when your business is disrupted by an insured event (commonly fire, flood, storm, escape of water). It can also cover increased cost of working to reduce your losses and keep customers supplied.

Two key decisions matter most:

• Indemnity period – how long the policy will pay for losses (12, 18, 24+ months).
• Gross profit sum insured – the value used to calculate claim payments (underinsurance can reduce claims).

Electrical manufacturing often needs longer indemnity periods due to machinery lead times, re-qualification and customer approvals. We help you select realistic periods and sums insured based on your accounts and production reality.

Specialist Covers Many Electrical Manufacturers Add

Once core covers are in place, manufacturers often need specialist extensions to address real-world loss scenarios. Below are the most common “add-ons” we see for electrical components and electronics businesses:

The goal is not to buy everything. The goal is to avoid the common gaps that cause problems when a claim happens. We build programmes around how your business actually operates.

Common Insurance Gaps We See in Electrical Manufacturing

Manufacturers often discover gaps only after a loss. Here are the most common:

• Underinsured BI – incorrect gross profit sum insured or indemnity period too short.
• Machinery breakdown not included – or critical utilities (compressor/chiller) not scheduled.
• Recall not covered – product liability covers injury/property damage but not recall logistics/replacement.
• Contractual assumptions – customers impose liabilities beyond what policies cover.
• Territory mismatch – exports (especially USA/Canada) not declared or excluded.
• Pollution exclusions – environmental costs not covered under standard liability.
• Cyber/OT exposure – production disruption via ransomware not addressed.

A good programme reduces “surprises” by aligning covers, triggers, limits and policy wording with your real exposures. That is what we focus on at Insure24.

Why Insure24 for Electrical Manufacturing Insurance?

How to Use This Guide (And Get the Right Quote)

If you want an accurate quote and policy structure that holds up at claim time, focus on the details insurers care about: what you make, where it is used, how you control defects, and how quickly you could recover after a serious loss.