Asbestos Removal and Surveying Insurance
Asbestos is the one trade on this site where the claim may arrive decades after the work, and that single feature changes how the insurance has to be arranged.
The Claim Arrives Decades Later
A disease claim from exposure does not surface when the exposure happens. It surfaces when somebody becomes ill, which can be twenty or forty years later, and by then the company may have changed name, the policy may have lapsed and the records may be gone. Liability cover for this work is therefore something you hold and keep evidence of, not something you shop each year.
The second thing to be clear about is scope, because it decides which market you are even in. Non-licensed and notifiable non-licensed work is one thing. Licensed work, meaning sprayed coatings, lagging and most work on asbestos insulating board, requires an HSE licence and is placed in a different and much narrower market. This page is written for the non-licensed end, which is what we arrange.
What Asbestos Removal Insurance Covers
Public liability, written for asbestos
A general trades policy almost always excludes asbestos entirely, so this has to be a policy that contemplates it. Limits of £5 million and £10 million are normal because the exposure is disease and because site contracts require it.
Employers' liability, and the long tail
Compulsory at a £5 million statutory minimum, and the section that answers a disease claim from an employee decades later. Keep every certificate you have ever held: an employers' liability certificate from twenty years ago is sometimes the only route to cover for a claim arising now.
Professional indemnity for surveying
A survey is a document somebody relies on to decide what work is safe. If a refurbishment survey missed material and a contractor later disturbed it, the loss is financial and advisory rather than physical, which is professional indemnity rather than liability.
Run-off cover
Because claims arrive long after the work, cancelling cover when you stop trading leaves every previous job unprotected. Run-off keeps the policy answering for completed work and it is not optional in this trade.
Contract works and plant
Enclosures, negative pressure units, vacuums, decontamination units and transit arrangements for waste. Specialist equipment that is expensive and site-based.
Legal expenses and regulatory representation
HSE involvement is a realistic prospect in this trade, and representation at an investigation or a hearing is not covered by liability insurance.
Where The Cover Stops
Wordings differ between insurers, so treat these as the usual position rather than as universal fact. Where one of them matters to you, it is worth checking on your own schedule before you need to.
Licensed work, on a non-licensed policy
The scope line, and the most important thing on the schedule. Work requiring an HSE licence, principally sprayed coatings, lagging and most asbestos insulating board, is a different market. A policy written for non-licensed work will not answer a licensed job, and doing licensed work without a licence is an offence as well as uninsured.
Claims made against occurrence
Much asbestos liability is written on a claims made basis, meaning the policy in force when the claim is made responds rather than the one in force when the work was done. A gap in cover can therefore leave decades of completed work with nothing to respond to. Continuity matters more than price here than in any other trade.
Gradual pollution and contamination
Many wordings distinguish a sudden and accidental release from gradual contamination, and exclude the latter. On asbestos that distinction can be the whole claim.
Failure to follow the plan of work
Method, enclosure, air monitoring and clearance are conditions rather than best practice. A breach gives an insurer a straightforward reason to decline and gives the HSE a straightforward case.
Fitness for purpose on surveys
Professional indemnity covers negligence, meaning a failure to take reasonable skill and care. A survey warranting that a building is free of asbestos is a stricter promise than most policies will stand behind, and wording matters enormously.
Waste carried without authorisation
Asbestos waste is hazardous waste and carrying it requires registration. Transporting it outside those arrangements is a regulatory problem your insurance will not solve.
Where The Licensed Line Falls
Getting this wrong is the single biggest risk in arranging cover for this work, so it is worth stating plainly rather than in general terms.
Non-licensed work covers lower risk materials in reasonable condition: asbestos cement sheeting, gutters and downpipes, decorative textured coatings, and some floor tiles and bitumen products. Notifiable non-licensed work sits above it, requiring notification, health records and medical surveillance, but still no licence. Licensed work covers sprayed coatings, pipe and boiler lagging, and most work on asbestos insulating board, and requires an HSE licence held by the contractor.
Insurers follow those categories closely. The appetite we can reach names non-licensed work specifically, which means we can place removal and surveying at that end properly. If your business holds or is seeking a licence, that is a different conversation and a different market, and the honest thing is to tell you that at the outset rather than after a quote.
Why Your Old Certificates Matter
In most trades, last decade's insurance documents are clutter. In asbestos they are an asset, and firms throw them away without realising.
A mesothelioma claim brought today may relate to exposure in the 1990s. The policy that responds will often be the employers' liability policy in force at the time of exposure, which means tracing it. Where the certificate exists, the claim has a route. Where it does not, the claim may land on the company directly or on the Employers' Liability Tracing Office process, and the outcome for the business is far worse.
So keep every employers' liability certificate indefinitely, with the insurer name, the policy number and the dates, and keep them somewhere separate from the office. Also keep the project records: plans of work, air monitoring, clearance certificates and who was on which site. Twenty years later those documents are the difference between a claim that is defensible and one that is not.
Surveying Is A Separate Exposure
A firm that both surveys and removes carries two different risks, and the surveying half is often the one the policy was not built for.
A management survey informs how a building is occupied. A refurbishment and demolition survey informs what a contractor can safely do to it, and other people act on it. If material was present and the survey did not find it, the people who relied on it have a claim for the consequences: delay, additional removal, remediation, and potentially exposure. Nothing was physically damaged by the surveyor, which is precisely why public liability does not answer and professional indemnity does.
Two practical points. Be careful how the report is worded, because a survey that warrants a building is asbestos free is a promise rather than an opinion and sits outside most cover. And keep the survey records as long as the removal records, for exactly the same reason.
What Principal Contractors Check
Asbestos is checked harder than almost any other trade before you get on site, and the checks are not a formality.
Expect to produce the liability certificate at the required limit, employers' liability, a plan of work for the specific job, evidence of training appropriate to the category of work, health records and medical surveillance for notifiable non-licensed work, and waste carrier registration. On larger sites, add the enclosure design and the air monitoring arrangements.
Where the contract passes obligations down, have it read before signing. Hold harmless wording on an asbestos job is a far more serious proposition than on ordinary trades work, because the liability it could attract has a forty year tail.
How To Choose A Broker For Asbestos Work
Most trades policies exclude asbestos outright, so the first thing to establish is whether a broker can place it at all. We are an FCA regulated broker and will not tell you we are the best choice. These are the questions that decide it.
Is the policy written for non-licensed work, and does it say so?
A general trades policy with asbestos excluded is not asbestos cover. Ask to see how the schedule describes the work, and establish exactly which categories are in scope before you rely on it.
Is it claims made or occurrence, and did they explain which?
This is the question most likely to be skipped and the one that matters most in a trade with a forty year tail. A broker who has not raised continuity and run-off has not understood the risk.
Has run-off been discussed for when you stop?
Claims keep arriving after you close, so cancelling on the last day leaves every completed job unprotected. It should be part of the conversation now rather than at the end.
Is surveying covered where you survey?
If you produce surveys as well as removing, you need professional indemnity alongside liability, and the report wording needs checking. A policy arranged for removal alone leaves the advisory half uncovered.
Were you told to keep your old certificates?
A small thing that reveals a lot. A broker who tells you to keep every employers' liability certificate indefinitely, and why, is thinking about how this trade actually claims.
Will somebody read the site contract?
Hold harmless wording on asbestos work can attract liability with a decades long tail. Amendments before signature are ordinary; afterwards they are not.
Factually, here is what we do against those questions. We establish which categories of work you carry out before quoting and say plainly where the licensed line falls, we tell you whether a policy is claims made or occurrence and what that means for continuity, we raise run-off and record keeping at the outset rather than at the end, and we arrange professional indemnity alongside where you survey as well as remove. We are a broker, so it goes to several insurers rather than one.
Non-licensed asbestos work is named in the appetite of an insurer we deal with, which is why it can be placed rather than declined. Where a business holds or is seeking a licence, we will tell you that it is a different market rather than quoting around it.
What Moves The Price
Every policy is priced on the business behind it. These are the things that move the premium:
- Which categories of work you carry out, and whether any is notifiable
- Turnover, and the split between removal and surveying
- The limit of indemnity your contracts require
- Training, health records and medical surveillance arrangements
- Your plan of work, enclosure and air monitoring standards
- Claims history, and any HSE involvement
- How long the business has traded and the continuity of cover behind it
We are a broker, so we take it to several insurers rather than quoting one. Call 02382 000820 for a quote.
What We Need To Quote
- Exactly which categories of asbestos work you carry out
- Whether you hold an HSE licence or are applying for one
- Whether you produce surveys, and of which type
- Annual turnover and the removal against surveying split
- Training records and medical surveillance arrangements
- Waste carrier registration details
- The limit of indemnity required, and who requires it
- Every claim and any HSE contact, however long ago
Cover that often goes with this
The gaps we most often find sitting next to this policy.
- Demolition contractorsWhere asbestos is found rather than sought, and soft strip work.
- Professional indemnityFor surveys other people act on, and how claims made works.
- Public liabilityWhy a standard trades policy excludes this work entirely.
- Employers' liabilityThe long tail, and why old certificates are worth keeping.
- Legal expensesHSE investigation and regulatory representation.
- Talk to a brokerTell us which categories you work in and we will be straight with you.
Common questions
What insurance do asbestos removal contractors need?+
Public and employers' liability written to contemplate asbestos, which a general trades policy does not: most exclude it outright. Limits of £5 million and £10 million are normal, driven by disease exposure and by what site contracts require. Employers' liability is compulsory at a £5 million statutory minimum and is the section that answers a disease claim decades later. Add professional indemnity if you survey as well as remove, cover for enclosures and specialist plant, legal expenses for HSE representation, and run-off for when you stop. Keep every certificate you have ever held.
What is the difference between licensed and non-licensed asbestos work?+
It decides which insurance market you are in, so it is worth being precise. Non-licensed work covers lower risk materials in reasonable condition: asbestos cement sheeting, gutters and downpipes, textured coatings, some floor tiles. Notifiable non-licensed work sits above that and requires notification, health records and medical surveillance but still no licence. Licensed work covers sprayed coatings, lagging and most work on asbestos insulating board, and requires an HSE licence. Insurers follow those categories closely, and a policy written for non-licensed work will not answer a licensed job. What we arrange is the non-licensed end, and we would rather say so at the outset than after a quote.
Why does asbestos insurance work differently from other trades?+
Because the claim can arrive thirty or forty years after the work. A disease claim surfaces when somebody becomes ill, not when they were exposed, by which time the company may have changed name and the policy may have lapsed. Two consequences follow. Much of this cover is written on a claims made basis, so the policy in force when the claim is made responds rather than the one in force when the work was done, which makes a gap in cover far more serious than in any other trade. And run-off is essential, because cancelling when you stop trading leaves every completed job unprotected.
Do I need professional indemnity as an asbestos surveyor?+
Yes, and it is the half firms most often miss. A refurbishment and demolition survey is a document a contractor relies on to decide what is safe to disturb. If material was present and the survey did not find it, the people who relied on it have a claim for the consequences, and nothing was physically damaged by you, which is exactly why public liability does not respond. Be careful how the report is worded too: a survey warranting that a building is asbestos free is a promise rather than an opinion, and that sits outside most cover.
Who insures asbestos contractors in the UK?+
A narrow market, because most standard trades policies exclude asbestos entirely, and the insurers who do write it are generally reached through brokers rather than direct. Non-licensed asbestos work is named in the appetite of one of the insurers we deal with, which is why it can be placed here rather than declined. What separates placements is whether the schedule describes the actual categories of work you carry out, whether the policy is claims made or occurrence, and whether surveying is covered alongside removal.
Should I keep old insurance certificates?+
In this trade, indefinitely, and it is the cheapest thing you can do for the business. A claim brought today may relate to exposure in the 1990s, and the policy that responds is often the employers' liability policy in force at the time of exposure. Where the certificate still exists, the claim has a route to an insurer. Where it does not, it can land on the company directly. Keep the insurer name, policy number and dates, store them away from the office, and keep the project records too: plans of work, air monitoring, clearance certificates and site personnel.
I am a builder who sometimes finds asbestos. Am I covered?+
Usually not, and this catches a great many builders and demolition contractors. Asbestos is excluded on practically every standard trades policy, so disturbing it is uninsured even when you did not go looking for it. The control is procedural rather than financial: in any pre-2000 building, stop when you find suspect material, have it tested, and either bring in a contractor whose policy contemplates it or have your own cover extended for the categories you will genuinely handle. Soft strip and demolition work in older buildings makes this a question of when rather than if.
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