Skilled labor is becoming increasingly valuable in the United States, with plumbers, electricians, carpenters, handyman and other tradesmen being in high demand due to the large number of younger people avoiding these jobs. Gas engineers fall under the same envelope, and they need insurance just as much as the next skilled professional.

Over the course of this guide, we’re going to explore what you need to hear about getting gas engineer or gas fitter insurance. We’ll cover the various kinds of coverage that you can get your hands on as well as the average cost of gas insurance. We’ll start off by taking a look at  gas engineer liability insurance.

Related: Gas Station Insurance

Gas Engineer Liability Insurance

There are countless forms of liability insurance, but in its most basic form, liability insurance kicks in to cover you when something goes wrong and you’re held liable for it, as the name would suggest. This can include bodily injury to other people or even property damage.

General liability insurance for gas engineers is the most common form of liability coverage, and where general liability insurance differs from other kinds of coverage is in what type of claims it covers. 

General liability insurance will kick in if you’re liable for injuries or property damage sustained by a great range of parties that are involved with your business activities. For example, general liability protects your gas business from any lawsuits from members of the public (in this case, your customers) who are injured on the premises of your business, but it also protects it from lawsuits coming in from the people who work for your business, your employees, other business owners, vendors, and more.

If one of your employees is in an accident and their phone is broken while working for you, general liability insurance will pay out for it. General liability coverage will even kick in to pay for injuries or property damage sustained by the business’s owner, making it the most comprehensive form of liability coverage.

Public Liability Insurance for Gas Engineers

Most smaller gas engineering businesses tend to purchase public liability insurance instead of general liability because they do not need coverage from damages caused to employees, business owners or vendors, since some small gas fitters and engineers simply do not have them in their business. However, if you have even one employee, one other business owner or one vendor, we recommend you to have a general liability insurance policy so your business is not caught off guard.

Where public liability differs from general liability is in it limited coverage. In contrast to general liability, your gas engineering business will not be financially covered in case it receives lawsuits from your employees, other business owners, vendors, etc. As its name suggests, public liability insurance for gas fitters and engineers only applies for damages caused to members of the public, but what exactly is a member of the public?

A member of the public is essentially anyone who isn’t employed by your business. For example, this kind of insurance will apply to your customers and even people employed by other companies who are on the premises of your business. For example, if someone comes to deliver some tools and ends up getting hurt, they’ll be covered by your public liability policy.

Whether or not a gas engineering business requires public liability insurance depends on whether or not that business expects to see people on premises. Many gas engineers tend to work at other people’s residences, so liability insurance may not necessarily apply to the vast majority of their jobs.

Gas Engineer Insurance Cost

In general, the average gas engineer insurance cost is about $34 per month or $408 per year for a standard general liability insurance coverage.

That said, the cost of gas engineer insurance depends on a wide range of factors that are sometimes out of a business’s control. For example, the size of your business will influence the cost of your insurance because a larger business will be more likely to end up in a situation where they need to be covered.

It’s a pretty simple premise. If you’re taking on more jobs at a time, then you’re more likely to end up with a client who gets injured or has their property damaged and you’re held liable for it. Of course, the cost of your insurance also depends on the carrier that you’re working with.

Some carriers may have more expensive premiums but they’ll offer better customer service and claims processing speeds. Whether or not this is worth the extra money depends on how many hoops you want to jump through when you finally need to rely on your insurance. Most of the time, it’s worth going with a carrier that has your best interests at heart.

Finally, your business’s history will also play a role in how much you can expect to pay for your insurance coverage. The following gas engineer insurance quotes were gathered using a medium-sized business that has no prior history of accidents or claims of any sort:

Gas Safety Shop Insurance

Gas safety shop insurance tends to be similar to gas engineer and gas fitter insurance because they’re a part of the same industry. In fact, some insurance companies even lump all of these policies together under a single form of coverage for workers in the gas industry. Many of these bundles feature liability and BOP coverage.

Gas safety shop insurance tends to be a little more expensive, especially if you’re getting liability insurance. This is because you’re far more likely to see customers on premises at a gas safety shop, as opposed to being a gas fitter that will often go to people’s homes to install gas lines.

Owners of these shops will also sometimes get their hands on indemnity insurance along with their liability coverage. Indemnity insurance will kick in if a business ends up making a mistake that they can be held liable for, so if you end up selling someone some malfunctioning gas safety equipment.

The average cost of insurance for a gas safety shop is about $375 per year, but this can vary considerably, much like with gas engineer coverage. Since many insurance carriers don’t have a specific program for gas safety shops, you may need to opt for a generic business owner policy (BOP) instead, which combines property insurance with liability coverage.