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PUBLIC LIABILITY COVER THAT HELPS YOU TRADE WITH CONFIDENCE
What is Public & Third-Party Liability Insurance?
Public liability insurance (often described as third-party liability) protects your business if you are held legally liable for injury to a third party or damage to third-party property arising from your business activities. For electrical component manufacturers and suppliers, this can include: customer site visits, installation or commissioning work, demonstrations, delivery operations, and day-to-day trading risks at your premises.
While product liability focuses on injury or damage caused by the products you make or sell, public liability focuses on incidents caused by your business activities — for example, a visitor slipping at your factory, a contractor being injured during a site survey, or accidental damage to a client’s equipment while commissioning a panel or instrumentation device.
Many customers, principal contractors and framework agreements require evidence of public liability cover before they will allow you on site. Getting the limit and wording right is essential — especially where you work in high-risk environments such as industrial plants, utilities, rail sites, data centres, or hazardous areas.
Who Needs Public Liability Cover in Electrical Manufacturing?
If your business interacts with customers, visits sites, ships products, or allows third parties onto your premises, you have third-party exposure. Public liability claims are common in manufacturing because operations involve machinery, forklifts, pallet movement, electrical testing, packaging areas, loading bays and regular deliveries.
- Manufacturers – factories, workshops, assembly and test facilities, calibration and R&D sites.
- Panel builders & integrators – site surveys, installation, commissioning and fault-finding at customer premises.
- Electrical component suppliers – deliveries, trade counters, customer collections, demos and exhibitions.
- OEM / contract manufacturers – working to principal contractor site rules and permit systems.
- Field service engineers – service calls, upgrades, retrofit work and testing on live sites (subject to scope).
- Start-ups / prototyping businesses – demonstrations, trials and pilot installs where the risk profile can be unclear.
What Public Liability Insurance Typically Covers
The exact cover depends on insurer and wording, but public liability is designed to pay compensation and legal defence costs where you are held legally liable. For electrical component manufacturing businesses, claims can arise from site work, factory visits, deliveries, exhibitions or accidental damage while working on client systems.
Common Covered Events
- Injury to visitors at your premises (e.g., slip/trip in loading bay or workshop)
- Accidental property damage at a customer site (e.g., damaging a control cabinet or pipework during commissioning)
- Injury to third parties during demonstrations, shows, training or handover
- Damage caused by temporary works, tools, ladders, portable test gear or lifting equipment
- Legal defence costs and associated expenses
- Court-awarded damages and claimant legal costs (where you are liable)
Common Extensions (When Needed)
- Contractors’ risks / on-site work – where you install, commission or service equipment
- Overseas work / temporary visits abroad – site visits or exhibitions outside the UK
- Indemnity to principals – required by many client contracts
- Heat work – if you ever do soldering/hot work on site (often requires declaration)
- Hired-in plant – liability arising from hired equipment used during site works
- Faulty workmanship – some policies address resultant damage (wording dependent)
Common Exclusions & Areas That Need Separate Cover
Public liability is powerful, but it isn’t designed to cover every commercial risk. Many manufacturing businesses assume “liability is liability” — but different policies respond to different triggers. The right programme avoids gaps and overlaps.
- Defective products – usually under product liability, not public liability.
- Professional advice / design – usually under professional indemnity.
- Damage to your own property – property insurance covers your premises, stock and equipment.
- Employee injuries – employers’ liability responds (and is a legal requirement in most cases).
- Pure financial loss without injury/property damage – often not covered unless specifically insured.
- Deliberate acts / contractual penalties – generally excluded.
- Asbestos, pollution and hazardous substances – may be excluded or sub-limited unless arranged.
Choosing the Right Limit of Indemnity
Typical public liability limits in the UK include £1m, £2m, £5m and £10m. For electrical manufacturing businesses, the “right” limit is often driven by: customer contracts, the environments you attend, and the size of property exposures at client sites. A site visit at a small workshop is very different to work in a data centre, power station, airport, petrochemical site or major manufacturing plant.
When higher limits are common
- You work as a subcontractor to principal contractors
- You attend high-value sites (utilities, large factories, data centres, critical infrastructure)
- You have on-site installation/commissioning exposure
- You supply into safety-critical environments and customers require robust certificates
- You operate forklifts, loading bays and regular delivery movements
How Insure24 helps
- We check your customer contract insurance clauses
- We clarify whether your activity is “manufacture only” or includes “contracting” on site
- We help you evidence risk controls (RAMS, permits, training, supervision, site rules)
- We structure cover to avoid gaps with product liability and professional indemnity
- We can arrange certificates to provide to clients quickly
We were asked for £10m public liability at short notice for a major site. Insure24 arranged the correct wording and certificates quickly, and clarified how it worked alongside our product liability cover.
Commercial Manager, Electrical Manufacturing BusinessHow to Get Public Liability Insurance
We can usually provide terms quickly when the activity is clear. If you also do installation or commissioning, insurers may ask for additional information, such as your contracting experience, risk assessments (RAMS), site controls, and the type of environments you attend.
- 1. Tell us what you do – manufacturing only, or on-site work too?
- 2. Confirm the limit required – driven by contracts and site access requirements.
- 3. Review the policy wording – including indemnity to principals and key exclusions.
- 4. Bind cover – receive documentation and certificates for customer onboarding.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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Is public liability the same as third-party liability?
In most UK business insurance contexts, yes. Public liability protects against claims from third parties for injury or property damage
arising from your business activities.
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Do manufacturers need both public liability and product liability?
Usually, yes. Public liability relates to incidents arising from your activities (site visits, premises, deliveries). Product liability relates
to injury or property damage caused by the products you make or supply.
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What limit do I need: £2m, £5m or £10m?
It depends on your contracts and the sites you attend. Many principal contractors and larger organisations require £5m or £10m, particularly where you do
on-site work or attend high-value premises.
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Does public liability cover my employees?
No. Injuries to employees are covered under employers’ liability insurance (which is a legal requirement for most UK businesses with staff).
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Can I get cover for installation or commissioning work?
Yes, this can usually be arranged, but insurers will want details of the work type, environments attended, experience, and your risk controls (RAMS, permits, supervision).
We’ll help you structure the submission.
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How quickly can Insure24 provide a certificate?
Once cover is in place, we can provide documentation and certificates for customer onboarding. If you need specific wording such as “indemnity to principals”,
tell us at the start so we can arrange it correctly.
UNIQUE INSURANCE
TAILORED FOR YOU
Public liability cover is often the first certificate a customer asks for — but it’s also one of the easiest places for hidden gaps to appear if your activities aren’t described correctly. Speak to Insure24 to ensure your policy reflects manufacturing and any on-site work, and sits correctly alongside your product liability and professional indemnity cover.
PROTECT YOURSELF
- Compensation and legal defence costs for third-party injury claims
- Cover for accidental damage to customer property during site work
- Contract-compliant limits and helpful extensions (where needed)
- Support aligning public and product liability to avoid gaps
- Quick documentation for onboarding and site access