You agree to store a client’s furniture while you paint their home. During storage, a table is knocked over and the timber top cracks. The client claims you damaged their property while it was in your control.

Care, custody and control coverage is designed to help cover damage to a customer’s property while it’s under your control, subject to policy limits.

A tool slips from scaffolding and hits a pedestrian walking past your worksite. They need medical treatment. They send you a letter of demand claiming lost income due to your negligence as you didn’t make the area safe.

Public Liability is designed to help if you’re legally liable for injury to a member of the public, if covered the policy will pay compensation and any settlement payment and your legal defence costs, up to your policy limit.

A tradie is installing a wall fixture at a customer’s shop. They drill into a hidden water pipe. Water floods the floor and damages cabinetry and stock. The customer sends you the repair bill and says you must pay.

Public Liability is designed to help if you’re legally liable for accidental damage to someone else’s property, including defence costs.

While unloading materials from a registered ute at a job site, a heavy box slips off the tailgate and dents a nearby parked car. The car owner asks you to pay for repairs and hire car costs, because you caused the damage.

Public Liability insurance typically includes cover for third party damage caused during loading or unloading of a registered vehicle.

On the way to a job site, you rear end another car in your registered ute at a set of lights. The other driver has whiplash and their boot is crushed. They claim medical costs and repairs and name your business in the demand.

Liability arising from using a registered motor vehicle is excluded under a Public Liability policy, as this type of loss is covered under other insurance policies, such as commercial motor vehicle insurance and Compulsory Third Party (CTP) cover.

You’re paid to design a small retaining wall for a customer and provide the plans to a contractor. The wall later fails causing property damage to your client. The client claims your design advice was wrong and asks you to cover the repair costs.

Claims from professional advice or services for a fee are usually excluded under a Public Liability policy. You require Professional Indemnity insurance if you are providing advisory services.

A contractor on your team has a dispute with a client over payment. Out of frustration, they deliberately damage materials on site before leaving. The client claims against your business for the damage and lost time.

Claims arising from dishonest, fraudulent or wilful acts are excluded. Liability cover is for accidental damage, not deliberate acts.

You install custom shelving for a shop. A week later it pulls away from the wall because the fixings were wrong. Shelves collapse, damaging the client’s stock. They demand you pay to redo the work and replace the damaged items.

Public Liability won’t cover the cost to re-do, correct or improve your work or fix defects, but it may cover resulting damage to the client’s stock.