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Thread: Workmens Compensation vs Professional Liability Insurance

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    Email problem MadJan's Avatar
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    Workmens Compensation vs Professional Liability Insurance

    Hi All,

    We have a professional liability insurance cover which i suppose is the same as workmens compensation??? And if i do have PL Cover why do i still need to register with WC?
    We were asked to register or WC but i am not comfortable with registering with them.....especially if i dont know how they will be billing me.....which is once a year right? i am not sure, please shed some light on this.


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    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    Professional liability insurance is totally different from Workmans Compensation.

    Workmans Compensation will cover you for medical costs and a few other things if you are injured in an accident at work. Professional liability insurance foots the bill if you are sued for damages arising from the conduct of your profession (normally a negligence related issue).

    Using a real world example, if a bridge collapsed during construction:
    • workers injured (or even killed) in the collapse would be covered under workmans compensation.
    • The engineer that signed off the part that failed (scaffolding for the pour, for instance) would be covered by professional liability insurance for the damages (financial losses arising from the setback).

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    Email problem MadJan's Avatar
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    Thanks Dave, this really clears it up, i suppose we are then going to have to apply for workmens compensation....urgh!!

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    I've aleays been under the impression that workmens compensation is compulsory for all employers, but stand to be corrected.

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    Email problem MadJan's Avatar
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    The company has been in operation for 2yrs but we're only now registering for Workmens Compensation now.........are they going to penalise us in any way for this? I am busy filling out the forms and the first question is "Date on which first employee was employed"....so i was wondering how this would affect our application....sorry if i sound dumb about this :-(

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    Gold Member Phil Cooper's Avatar
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    LIABILITY INSURANCE

    Hi Mad

    You talk of Professional Liability...

    The critical insurance is more your General Liabilities.

    PI arises from negligent ADVICE.

    But, should you injure somebody, or cause bodily injury, due to negligence, you can be in for a LOT of money.

    So, the issue is to ensure you have General liability AND PI!

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    Quote Originally Posted by MadJan View Post
    The company has been in operation for 2yrs but we're only now registering for Workmens Compensation now.........are they going to penalise us in any way for this? I am busy filling out the forms and the first question is "Date on which first employee was employed"....so i was wondering how this would affect our application....sorry if i sound dumb about this :-(
    I would guess they would send you a return for both years and you may be in for a penalty fee of sorts for the first missing year.

    I don't however have this as personal experience.

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