Health & safety consultants

Professional indemnity for health and safety consultants

If you advise on health and safety, your clients act on what you tell them — and when something goes wrong and a person is hurt, your advice can be put under the microscope. As the adviser, you can be drawn into a civil claim or an investigation. Professional indemnity insurance exists for that moment.

Part of: Professional indemnity at Apex

In short

A health and safety consultant needs professional indemnity insurance because clients rely on your advice to keep people safe — and if that advice is alleged to be negligent, whether a risk assessment that missed a hazard, an unsafe method statement or an audit that gave false assurance, you can be sued for the loss that follows, including after a serious injury. Professional indemnity responds to your legal liability for negligent advice and, just as importantly, funds the cost of defending you — often where the stress goes even when you have done nothing wrong. It does not pay regulatory fines, which are generally uninsurable, and it does not take on your client’s own legal duties as an employer or duty-holder. There is no statutory minimum limit; the figure is usually set by your client contracts.

Why a health and safety consultant needs professional indemnity insurance

If you advise on health and safety, your clients act on what you tell them — a risk assessment sets how a task is controlled, a method statement how it is done. When that advice is later said to be wrong and a loss or injury followed, you can be held responsible. Professional indemnity responds to your legal liability for negligent advice and pays the cost of defending the allegation.

Defence costs matter as much as damages: even a claim that is dropped must be investigated and answered, and that is what the policy funds. The table shows typical claims and how cover responds.

Typical claim against you	How professional indemnity responds
A risk assessment missed a hazard and a worker was injured	Defends you and meets your liability for the loss
A method statement you wrote is said to have been unsafe	Responds to the claim that it fell below a reasonable standard
An audit wrongly assured the client that it was compliant	Covers the loss from the client’s reliance on your findings
Training you delivered left staff unable to work safely	Responds where negligent instruction caused a loss
A client followed your advice and an accident still happened	Funds your defence and any damages you must pay

Cover is for civil liability arising from your professional work; it does not replace the client’s own safety management, nor rescue a problem you knew of and failed to flag.

When an incident becomes an investigation — and a claim against you

The exposure that defines this work is the hardest to sit with: your advice is followed, and someone is still seriously hurt or killed. The Health and Safety Executive or the local authority may investigate, and the duty-holder may be prosecuted — and as the adviser you can be drawn in: asked for records, called as a witness, or faced with a civil claim that your advice was negligent.

Two duties must be kept apart. Your client, as duty-holder, carries the primary legal duties and answers to the regulator; you carry a professional duty to advise with reasonable skill and care. Professional indemnity sits on your duty — it covers your legal liability for negligent advice and the cost of defending it, but it does not pay fines or penalties imposed on you, which are generally uninsurable. Where your work touches construction, the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 place duties on defined roles, so your insurer should know if you take one.

The stakes are rarely only financial: an investigation can run for a long time, and being named after a serious injury carries real reputational weight. Cover does not remove that strain, but you are not facing it alone.

Scope, records and the “competent person” role

Most claims against health and safety consultants turn on two things you control: what you were engaged to do and what you can show you advised.

Put scope in writing. An engagement letter should state what the work covers, what it excludes and what the client must provide; disputes often turn on whether something was within your remit.
Record the advice you gave. Note what you recommended and on what information, and record when a client declines or acts against it — if an incident is investigated later, your file is your defence.
Stay within your competence. General safety advice is not fire engineering, occupational hygiene, asbestos or structural work; outside your expertise, refer on.

The competent person runs through the law: the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require employers to appoint competent help, and a consultant is often that person. The voluntary Occupational Safety and Health Consultants Register (OSHCR) helps clients identify consultants who meet recognised standards, and insurers assess the activities you declare — so tight scope and good records make a claim easier to defend.

Reasonable skill and care, claims-made cover and the long tail

You are not expected to promise that no accident ever happens. The law applies a standard of reasonable skill and care — that of a competent professional — so professional indemnity responds to a failure to meet it, not to every bad outcome. When you place or renew, the Insurance Act 2015 requires a fair presentation of the risk, so disclose your activities and any claims or circumstances honestly.

Cover is written on a claims-made basis: the policy that responds is the one in force when a claim is made, or a circumstance notified, not the one you held when you did the work. Two features follow:

Retroactive date. Cover reaches back only to this date, so it must sit at or before your earliest relevant advice; a later date leaves past work uninsured.
Run-off cover. Injury and ill-health claims have long tails — an incident can surface years after the advice, so run-off keeps past work covered after you retire or stop trading.

There is no statutory minimum limit for a consultant, so the figure is driven by client contracts and your own judgement. Because a single serious-injury claim can be substantial, set the limit against the size and complexity of the sites you advise on.

How Apex places professional indemnity for health and safety consultants

A short fact-find, not a 40-question form. We ask about your work as health and safety consultants: what you do, who for, fee income, staff, contracts, claims and anything unusual.
A written presentation to insurers. Under the Insurance Act 2015 you have a duty of fair presentation. We help you meet it — and a well-presented risk gets better terms than a bare proposal form.
Quotes set out to compare. Usually three or four, with limits, excesses, retroactive dates, exclusions and premium side by side, and our recommendation in plain English.
No gap in cover. If you are moving from another broker, insurer or scheme, we put the new policy in place before the old one lapses and check the retroactive date protects your past work.
The same person afterwards. Mid-term changes, contract queries, certificates for clients, circumstance notifications and next year’s renewal all go through your named broker.

Why health and safety consultants move their PI to Apex

Owned by its directors, not for sale. No consolidator, no private-equity owner, no external shareholders — and we have declined approaches to buy the firm. Read the Apex Independence Charter.
Independent, not tied. No single-insurer scheme, no in-house policy, no placement quotas — the recommendation is the one that fits, not the one we are paid to push.
Over 30 markets, including Lloyd’s. Specialist UK PI insurers and Lloyd’s syndicates via wholesale, so a risk that one underwriter dislikes can still be placed properly with another.
Usually three or four competing quotes, laid out side by side — limit, excess, retroactive date, exclusions and premium — with a plain-language note on the trade-offs.
The stay-put letter. If your existing cover is right, we say so in writing, free and without obligation. How the stay-put letter works.
A named broker all year. The person who places your cover is the person who picks up the phone at renewal, on a mid-term change, or when a letter of claim lands.
Director-level attention on claims. We help you notify circumstances early and in the right form, stay involved once the insurer’s panel solicitors are appointed, and tell you plainly where you stand.
Directly authorised by the FCA since 2016, not an appointed representative trading under someone else’s permissions.

When it is worth getting a second quote

It is worth asking us to re-market your cover when:

You have outgrown a professional-body or adviser-network scheme, or an online-only policy, and nobody has re-marketed your risk in years.
A client, lender, framework or regulator now requires a higher limit, a different basis of cover, or evidence your existing broker cannot produce quickly.
Your insurer has non-renewed, withdrawn from your profession, or imposed an exclusion you were not warned about.
Your renewal rose sharply with no explanation, or the person who knew your firm has left, retired, or been absorbed into a consolidator.
You have a claim, a circumstance, a CCJ or something else non-standard, and your current arrangement treats it as a tick-box decline.
Your broker has been bought by a consolidator or a global broker and the independence you chose them for has gone.

When we are not the right broker

We would rather say so than waste your time. We are probably not for you if:

You want the cheapest possible policy bought online in five minutes with no conversation. An online-only product may suit you better, and we would rather say so than waste your time.
Your regulator or professional body requires you to use one specific scheme with no alternative. That is rare, but where it applies we will tell you.
You are outside the UK, or your firm is effectively a US-domiciled business with a UK office.

Related guides

Frequently asked

Is professional indemnity insurance a legal requirement for health and safety consultants?

There is no statutory requirement to hold professional indemnity insurance, and no regulator sets a minimum limit. In practice it is close to essential: many client contracts require it before you can be appointed, and it protects your own finances if a claim follows.

My client is the employer and carries the legal duties — how can a claim still reach me?

Your client, as duty-holder, carries the primary legal duties. But when you give advice you owe a separate duty to exercise reasonable skill and care, so if an assessment or method statement is alleged to have fallen short and an injury followed, an injured party or the client can bring a civil claim.

Will professional indemnity cover me if there is an HSE investigation or prosecution?

It responds to your civil liability for negligent advice and the cost of defending it, but it does not pay regulatory fines or penalties imposed on you, which are generally uninsurable. Usually the client is prosecuted, but you can be asked for records, called as a witness, or face a linked claim.

What is the difference between professional indemnity and public liability insurance?

They cover different things. Professional indemnity responds to financial loss a client suffers because of your advice, such as a negligent report. Public liability responds to injury or property damage caused by your activities, for example during a site inspection. Many consultants carry both.

How much cover do I need as a health and safety consultant?

There is no statutory minimum, so the limit is driven by your client contracts and your own risk. A useful guide is the size and complexity of the sites you advise on and the potential severity of an injury, since a single serious-injury claim can be substantial. A specialist broker can help you judge it.

What does claims-made mean, and why does it matter when I retire or stop trading?

Professional indemnity is claims-made: the policy in force when a claim is made, or a circumstance notified, responds, whatever year you did the work. So the retroactive date must reach back to your earliest advice, and run-off matters at retirement — injury claims have long tails and surface years later.

Does professional indemnity cover me if I advise under CDM 2015 or act as a competent person?

Generally yes, provided the activity is declared and within your competence. Where your work touches construction, the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 place duties on defined roles, so your insurer needs to know if you take one. The same applies to acting as a competent person.

Get professional indemnity cover built around the advice you give

Tell us about the health and safety work you do, the sectors and sites you advise on and any limit your client contracts require, and a specialist broker can approach insurers that understand consultancy risk and return terms for you to consider. Or call 0117 325 0027.

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Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England and Wales, company number 07014570. This page is general information about professional indemnity insurance, not advice on your individual circumstances, and it does not guarantee that cover will be available or on what terms.