atw: Re: Public liability and professional indemnity insurance

Hi Terry

It's an unfortunate fact of life in Western Australia, at least, that
the large resource companies require their Pty Ltd contractors to have
PI. I've argued many times for the clause/requirement to be removed
based on the reasoning you give, but only the smaller companies have
agreed to waive this requirement. The big guys - including Govt
departments - insist on it no matter who you are or what you do. Which
is why I continue to maintain it. Not having it immediately removes
those clients from my potential pool.

In nearly 10 years as a Pty Ltd contractor (sole employee of my
company), working mostly for mining companies or software companies that
service them, I've never had a claim, so it sticks a bit to pay that
hefty sum out each year. 

But in the scheme of things, if you get work with some of these big
guys, the contract rate you get usually covers the cost without you
losing too much sleep!

Rhonda


Rhonda Bracey 
rhonda.bracey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.cybertext.com.au
CyberText Newsletter/blog: http://cybertext.wordpress.com
Author-it Certified Consultant
-----Original Message-----
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
tpdhome@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, 25 February 2008 4:01 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: Public liability and professional indemnity insurance

As a techwriter, you should be able to get out of having PI insurance.  
I've never needed to get it. The catch with it is that you need to
maintain it for 5 years beyond the end of the contract. The reason you
don't need it is that you're not designing things and the people who are
designing these things are the ones who should be proofing and approving
your work. Speak with the people offering you the contract.  
If they insist, factor in five additional years worth of PI into your
rate. Rhonda is right that you should expect somewhere around $3-4k/year
for $20M cover. $15-20k over five years is better in your pocket than in
some insurance company's.

When I've had PI for project management work, I think I had a Vero
policy (would need to check) through a local broker.

The PL should be of the order $500/year.

Cheers,
Terry
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