certificates of insurance

The Differences of Policies for Architects and Engineers

There are many types of policies for architect and engineering firms and are available for different types of claims and purposes.

A professional liability policy, arguably the most important policy for a design professional, is the policy that covers your firm for design work.  This policy will include a retroactive date, a deductible and is a claims-made policy.  The policy is only for your work as a design professional.  It does not cover for other liability outside of your firm’s design.

The business owner policy will include three general parts of the policy, general liability, automobile liability and business personal property.  The general liability is for liability outside of your firm’s design work, otherwise known as the ‘trips and falls’ coverage.  Your landlord will require this type of coverage for your office space.  Automobile liability is for liability as it relates to hired and non-owned vehicles.  For example, the business liability for your firm of an employee that drives their own vehicle for business purposes.  This does not cover the property damage to the vehicle itself, just the liability for the business.  Lastly, business personal property is the property owned by your firm such as desks and computers.

Workers’ compensation policy is the policy available to protect injured employees.  This is required by state law if your firm has employees.  It provides medical care and financial assistance to an employee who is injured or becomes ill while working.

The cyber liability policy provides protection to your firm against financial loss resulting from a cyber attack or data breach.  This insured has become really important with the increase in cyber-attacks.

If your firm has any questions with regards to different types of insurance available to your architecture/engineering firm please call, or email, your Professional Underwriter agent for assistance.

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