Roland Perry wrote:

In message , at 16:11:00 on
Wed, 6 Jun 2012, A.Lee remarked:
Looking at it another way, are you saying that if electricians were
negligent while installing new circuits in a building which leads to the
building burning down then their PLI won't cover them?

That's Professional Indemnity, not Public Liability.

No, Professional Indemnity is when you give advice and it turns out to
be wrong. Public Liability is if you are a tradesman/worker, and ruin a
carpet/drop a hammer on an antique vase, or cause a flood downstairs
after drilling into a pipe or other such harm, as well as harming
people.
And, despite your doubts, they do cover you if you burn an house down
(so long as you worked to their requirements), and will pay if you ruin
a carpet.

Given the rates people have quoted (premiums of about 1:10,000 of the
cover) I don't think PL Insurance is in any sense a guarantee on the
work done by ham-fisted contractors. The numbers simply don't work.

That's because there are so few claims, that the premums are kept low.
My excess is £500 iirc, any damage I cause is likely to be less than
£500 - I've chipped a kitchen sink before, and broken a toilet pan, both
were less than £500, so I just bought new ones myself, which any
respectable tradesman would do, mainly to save the trouble for the
customer, and my insurance wouldnt cover it anyway.

In particular, I'm led to believe that PL insurance doesn't cover anyone
you have a contractual relationship with, so burning down the house of
someone who asked you to do a job for them doesn't count.

Yes it does. If you are working for someone, you are covered for
whatever is included in your policy. I cannot use any heat inside
premises - if I burn an house down through using a gas torch inside,
then i will have to pay myself, if however I advertently drill through a
gas pipe, and an explosion ensues, then they will pay out, so long as I
was acting diligently while working.


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