Other Insurance You’ll Find Useful as a Structural Engineer
Professional indemnity insurance and general liability insurance are the two most important business insurance you should consider getting. But if you’re running a structural engineering firm, these two aren’t the only insurance you need. Consider investing in commercial property insurance, commercial auto insurance, workers compensation insurance, and more to cover other exposures that general liability and professional indemnity insurance can’t take care of.
Structural Engineer Commercial Property Insurance
Commercial property insurance is a coverage for your structural engineering firm’s office, warehouse, and other rented, leased, or owned buildings. Perils mainly covered by this insurance are:
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| Building Destruction | Building Damage |
| Your structural engineering firm’s warehouse or office might turn into ashes when an uncontrollable fire breaks out. Extreme weather might tear them down too. In such an event, commercial property insurance ensures that you can recover losses by reimbursing the replacement cost or actual cash value of the destroyed office or warehouse of your structural engineering firm | Commercial property insurance doesn’t only kick in if your structural engineering firm’s warehouse or office is destroyed. It will also provide coverage if they're damaged. But note that this only applies if damage is caused by fire, theft, vandalism, extreme weather, and other covered perils |
With its additional coverages, commercial property insurance will take care of the equipment, tools, and contents that become lost or damaged while in the premises of your structural engineering firm’s space.
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| Stocks and Contents Coverage | Business Equipment and Tools Coverage |
| Inside your structural engineering firm’s buildings are computers, blueprints, records, CCTV cameras, furniture, and others. When these become damaged or lost due to fire, theft, vandalism, and other covered perils, stocks and contents will kick in to reimburse your losses | Business equipment and tools is the additional coverage in commercial property insurance that will reimburse your investments on ladders, personal protective equipments, harness, probe, cameras, and other valuable items that become damaged or lost due to fire, theft, vandalism, extreme weather, and other covered perils |
Commercial property insurance reimburses your losses based on the replacement cost a covered property. Premiums are expensive but replacement cost commercial property insurance is very worth the investment because it will fully recover losses. In a replacement cost, commercial property insurance will provide money not taking depreciation into account. So if your $2 million warehouse got destroyed, you’ll receive the same amount of money.
Structural Engineer Builders Risk Insurance
Your structural engineering firm doesn’t only design and analyze bridges, commercial and residential buildings, dams, and more. It also provides services such as building additions, window and door modification, loft conversions, and alteration or removal of internal walls, etc. That being said, you might find builders' risk insurance useful.
Builders' risk insurance protects a project you’re working on against destruction or damage. Understand that this provides protection while a project is in the process of completion. Perils covered are explosions, fires, theft, vandalism, extreme weather, etc.
Structural Engineer Workers Compensation Insurance
You need workers' compensation insurance to run a structural engineering firm legally. This is a coverage that will kick in if the structural engineers and other employees working for you experience a work-related injury or disease. The coverages of workers' compensation insurance are as follows:
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Employee Treatment/Medical Procedure | An employee of your structural engineering firm will experience an accident that results in contusions, concussions, lacerations, and other injuries. If not injuries, then the employee might suffer from heatstroke, fatigue, and other illnesses. Workers' compensation insurance sees to it that you don’t pay for the medical treatment/procedure of an employee when such things happen |
Hospitalization | Injuries or illnesses will sometimes cause your structural engineering firm’s employee to be hospitalized. In such a case, workers' compensation insurance will cover hospital bills regardless of where the employee is admitted |
Medication | Your employee will need to buy meds for the faster healing of a work-related injury or illness. Workers' compensation insurance also takes on the job of covering the costs of the medicines needed by your employee |
Rehabilitation | Your employee might need rehabilitation to fully recover from a work-related injury or disease. In connection, workers' compensation insurance will cover therapist fees and other rehabilitation expenses |
Lost Income Compensation | You need to cover lost wages if an employee of your structural engineering firm suffers from a work-related injury or illness. Workers’ compensation insurance helps with this. When an employee can’t come to work, workers' compensation insurance provides a weekly allowance equal to two-thirds or 67% of the average weekly wage |
Death Benefits | Sometimes, work-related injuries and illnesses will result in the death of your structural engineering firm’s employee. In such an event, workers' compensation insurance functions to cover funeral expenses and provide death benefits to the deceased’s dependents |
Structural Engineer Commercial Auto Insurance
Your structural engineering firm will need commercial auto insurance if it owns at least one vehicle used for business purposes. Commercial auto insurance provides the following defenses against exposures associated with a commercial vehicle:
| Coverage | Function |
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Auto Liability Coverage | The commercial vehicle will cause an accident and your structural engineering firm will be responsible for injured third parties and damaged property. Auto liability coverage in commercial auto insurance will help. It will pay the emergency treatment of injured third parties and reimburse the owners of damaged properties. Auto liability coverage will also pay for your firm’s attorney fees, administrative costs, and other legal expenses if someone decides to take legal action |
Physical Damage Coverage | Commercial auto insurance provides physical damage coverage and sees to it that your structural engineering firm’s commercial vehicle is in pristine shape. Physical damage coverage has two forms - collision and comprehensive. When your structural engineering firm’s commercial vehicle incurs damage after colliding with a vehicle or another object, collision physical damage coverage will provide for parts repair and replacement. On the other hand, comprehensive physical damage coverage will pay for parts repair or replacement if the commercial vehicle is damaged by fire, theft, vandalism, and other covered perils. Both forms of physical damage coverage don’t cover the repair or replacement of aftermarket parts. Also, they don’t provide coverage if the commercial vehicle got damaged after rolling over |
Rental Reimbursement Coverage | Your structural engineering firm will need to rent a commercial vehicle while the one it owns is being repaired. Commercial auto insurance has rental reimbursement coverage. Rental reimbursement coverage will cover vehicle rental expenses |
MedPay/Personal Injury Protection | The driver of your structural engineering firm’s commercial vehicle will surely sustain injuries upon causing an accident on the highway or getting involved in one. MedPay and personal injury protection will help with this. MedPay will cover medical expenses and funeral costs. On the other hand, personal injury protection is more comprehensive as it takes care of compensation for lost income and after-hospital visits aside from medical expenses and funeral expenses |
Business Owner’s Policy for Structural Engineers
Go for a business owner’s policy if you want to purchase general liability insurance and commercial property insurance. A business owner’s policy combines commercial property insurance and general liability insurance so that there’s no need to buy each separately. What makes a business owner’s policy good is that it will also feature other useful insurance solutions such as workers comp, commercial auto, or professional liability insurance depending on the company underwriting it.
