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Specialist consultants
Yes. If you write manuals, instructions, safety information or software documentation for clients, an error in your text can lead to damaged equipment, lost data, injured users or a product recall, and the client will look to you for its losses. Professional indemnity insurance is usually the policy that meets that liability and pays for your defence. Check how your policy treats injury claims, because a wrong instruction can hurt someone, not just cost money.
Part of: Professional indemnity for consultants
In short
Technical authors carry more risk than the word count suggests. Under the Consumer Protection Act 1987, the instructions and warnings supplied with a product are among the circumstances that decide whether it is defective, so a manufacturer facing a product liability claim may seek a contribution from the author whose instructions it blames. Machinery supplied in Great Britain must come with instructions in English that cover reasonably foreseeable misuse, and BS EN IEC/IEEE 82079-1:2020 is the main standard for information for use. PI responds to claims that negligent documentation caused loss, subject to the policy terms, but wordings differ on bodily injury.
Last reviewed 5 October 2026 by the Apex professional indemnity team.
Public liability covers accidents you cause directly, such as damaging equipment while photographing it at a client’s site. The bigger risk for a technical author is indirect: someone follows your words, and something goes wrong.
Your documents are relied on by engineers, operators, installers and consumers who were never party to your contract. A wrong torque value, a missing warning, a step in the wrong order or an unclear diagram can damage machinery, corrupt data or injure a user. The loss lands first on your client, which then asks whether its documentation supplier was negligent. Professional indemnity (PI) insurance usually responds to that allegation: it pays the damages a court or settlement says you owe, plus the cost of your defence.
Describe your work fully when you buy cover. User manuals for consumer products, maintenance documentation for industrial machinery, standard operating procedures, software help and API documentation, and regulated documentation in sectors such as medical devices or aviation carry very different risks, and an insurer will price and word the policy accordingly.
The scenarios below are illustrative only. They show how documentation errors become claims; none is a real case.
What decides each one is whether you wrote, checked and controlled the documentation as a competent technical author would have done.
Instructions are not just helpful text. Several laws treat them as part of the product, and one international standard sets out what good practice looks like.
| Law or standard | What it says | Why it matters to your PI |
|---|---|---|
| Consumer Protection Act 1987, s.3 | A product is defective if its safety is not what persons generally are entitled to expect. The circumstances taken into account include any instructions for, or warnings about, doing or not doing anything with the product. | Poor instructions can make a sound product legally defective. |
| Consumer Protection Act 1987, s.2 | The producer, anyone who holds itself out as the producer by putting its name or mark on the product, and the importer are liable for damage caused by a defect, jointly and severally. | Your client takes the first hit, then looks for others to share it. |
| Civil Liability (Contribution) Act 1978, s.1 | Anyone liable for damage may recover a contribution from anyone else liable for the same damage. | This is the route by which a manufacturer’s injury settlement becomes a claim against its author. |
| General Product Safety Regulations 2005, reg. 7 | Producers must give consumers the information they need to assess risks that are not obvious without adequate warnings, and to take precautions. Warnings do not excuse compliance with the other requirements. | Warnings are a legal duty, but they cannot fix a product that is unsafe for other reasons. |
| Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008, Sch. 2, para. 1.7.4 | In Great Britain, machinery must come with instructions in English, marked “Original instructions” or “Translation of the original instructions”. They must cover intended use and reasonably foreseeable misuse, and suit the level of non-professional users. | Machinery documentation has a statutory content standard you can be measured against. |
| BS EN IEC/IEEE 82079-1:2020 | The current standard for preparing information for use of products, covering transport, installation, operation, maintenance and disposal. | BSI describes it as relevant to product liability cases involving inadequate instructions or warnings. |
The Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators (ISTC), the largest UK body representing information development professionals, shares best practice and standards with its members. Following a recognised method, and recording that you did, is your strongest defence.
| Usually covered by PI | Often excluded or limited | Needs a different policy |
|---|---|---|
| Client claims for loss caused by errors or omissions in manuals, procedures or online help | Bodily injury, in wordings that exclude it unless it results from a breach of professional duty | Injury caused by your own activities on a client’s site (public liability) |
| Contribution claims from a manufacturer that settled with an injured user, where the policy covers injury arising from professional work | Indemnities in client contracts that make you answer for every product claim, whatever the cause | Products you make or sell yourself (product liability) |
| Copyright claims over text, diagrams or screenshots, where IP cover is included | Work in excluded sectors, such as aerospace, unless declared and accepted | Loss of client files through a cyber attack on your systems (cyber) |
| Breach of confidence, such as disclosing an unreleased product | Late delivery, where it is a contract dispute with no negligence alleged | Laptop and equipment theft (equipment cover) |
| Defence costs, including experts on documentation practice | Fines and penalties | Claims against you as an employer (employers’ liability) |
As always, the wording and the insurer’s acceptance of your proposal decide what is covered. Aerospace, medical device and nuclear documentation are often treated as specialist risks, so declare them at the outset.
This is the scenario that separates technical authors from most writers. An injured consumer does not need to prove anyone was negligent to claim under the Consumer Protection Act 1987: the producer, own-brander or importer is liable if the product was defective, and the instructions and warnings are part of that judgement. The producer pays, and then looks at who caused the problem.
Under the Civil Liability (Contribution) Act 1978, a business that is liable for damage can recover a contribution from anyone else liable for the same damage. If the manufacturer argues the injury happened because your instructions were negligently written, it can pursue you for a share of what it paid. That claim is about negligence, so it is a professional liability question.
Record the technical input the client gave you, the hazards it identified, who approved each version and what changed between releases. When a manual is challenged years later, version control and sign-off records are what show your text was right on the information you had.
No law sets a PI limit for technical authors. Manufacturers, software houses and agencies set it in their supplier terms, and some will ask to see a certificate before they release product information to you. Base your limit on the worst outcome of an error in the most hazardous product you document, not on your day rate.
PI works on a claims-made basis: cover must be live on the day a claim is notified, whenever the manual was written. Manuals stay in use for as long as the product does. In England and Wales, under the Limitation Act 1980, a claim under Part I of the Consumer Protection Act 1987 can be brought up to ten years from when the producer supplied the product, and a contribution claim against you can follow after that claim is settled. If you retire, take a permanent role or stop freelancing, arrange run-off so past documentation stays insured: how run-off cover works.
A complete proposal gets better terms than a bare one, and a broker can only present what you tell us. Have these ready:
Speak to a broker
PI for technical authors, placed by a named broker
Start the online proposal and save it as you go, or leave your number and a named broker will call you back, usually the same working day.
Apex Insurance Brokers is an independent insurance broker based in Bristol, established in 2009 and authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We are not tied to one insurer: we work with over 30 markets, including Lloyd’s syndicates through wholesale brokers, and every client has a named broker who handles the placement, mid-term changes, certificates for clients and the renewal.
Yes. Clients and their customers rely on your instructions, and an error can damage equipment, lose data or injure a user. PI meets the compensation you are found to owe and funds your defence, within the policy terms. Check how it treats bodily injury, because documentation claims can involve injury as well as financial loss.
No. No law requires technical authors to hold PI, and membership of the ISTC is voluntary. In practice manufacturers, software companies and agencies usually require PI in their supplier or contractor terms, often with a minimum limit, and may ask for a certificate before work starts.
Possibly. The producer is usually liable to the injured person under the Consumer Protection Act 1987, and instructions and warnings count when deciding whether a product is defective. The producer can then seek a contribution from anyone else liable, including an author whose negligent instructions contributed to the injury.
It depends on the wording. Some PI policies cover bodily injury resulting from a breach of professional duty; others exclude injury and leave it to a liability policy, which may itself exclude professional advice. Ask your broker to check both policies together so that a claim arising from your instructions is not left uninsured.
Yes. In Great Britain, the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008 require machinery to come with instructions in English, labelled as original or translated, covering intended use and reasonably foreseeable misuse. Instructions for non-professional users must take account of their level of general education and understanding.
Often, provided IP infringement is part of the cover. Problems usually arise from reusing a supplier’s or competitor’s diagrams, stock images or software screenshots without checking the rights. Deliberate copying is commonly excluded, so keep a record of where each image came from and on what terms it can be used.
Apex arranges professional indemnity insurance for technical authors across the UK. Tell us about your work and we’ll find cover that fits. Or call 0117 325 0027.
Start your PI proposal Call 0117 325 0027Apex 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, not advice on your individual circumstances. Cover is always subject to the insurer’s acceptance and the policy terms, and this page does not guarantee that cover will be available or on what terms.
