By Scott Belton, Hub International, provider of the Engineers Canada-sponsored Secondary Professional Liability Insurance Program
An experienced engineer is mentoring an engineer-in-training (EIT), offering suggestions to the EIT’s designs.
Another engineer offers a neighbour some suggestions related to a home construction project.
A third engineer had completed a project years earlier, but the company that employed the engineer folded long ago.
In each of these cases, the engineer could face huge legal bills and even personal financial ruin without a plan to protect them from a lawsuit. But many engineers aren’t even aware of these risks.
In cases like these, insurance coverage is the best way to provide protection for individual engineers and geoscientists. Unfortunately, liability coverage provided by a current or former employer may not cover these kinds of risks.
The Secondary Professional Liability Insurance (SPLI) Program, operated by Hub International, an Engineers Canada affinity partner, provides insurance coverage for individual liability arising from provided professional services like these.
The Importance of SPLI
In today’s litigious environment, it can be risky for engineers and geoscientists just to do their jobs. It’s impossible to know what circumstances may lead to litigation and prepare for them.
The SPLI Program provides a layer of protection for the public and allows engineers and geoscientists to provide their services to the best of their ability without worrying that their personal finances will be decimated in a lawsuit.
The insurance policy offers protection up to $250,000 per claim, with no deductible. What’s more, all members in good standing with one of the participating provincial or territorial associations are automatically covered under the program.
While specific coverages will vary, depending on the details of the lawsuit and other coverages in place, engineers and geoscientists should feel comfortable to serve and protect the public through their projects, without fear of reprisal.
Qualified Cases of Professional Services
SPLI coverage helps ensure that engineers and geoscientists feel comfortable with situations that may lead to professional risk. Some of these risks include:
- Incidental professional consulting services: A friend or neighbour asks for an engineer’s opinion, and they later bring a claim against that engineer for that informal consultation.
- Prior acts: Someone brings a claim against an engineer for work they did for a previous employer.
- Retirement: Someone brings a claim against an engineer who worked on a project but is now retired and no longer has other coverage available to them
- Estates: A claim is filed against the estate of a deceased engineer for work they performed while they were still practicing.
- Employment with non-consulting firms: an engineer is employed by a general contractor and is sued for incidental engineering advice they provided on one of their projects
- Whistleblowing: An engineer decides to report an employer for illegal or unsafe practices in accordance with their association’s code of ethics or by-laws, which may lead to legal costs or negative consequences for their career.
Read about the Secondary Professional Liability Insurance Program to learn more.
About the author
Scott Belton is the vice president of professional liability at global insurance brokerage Hub International. His team works with Canadian professional services firms and technology companies to provide risk management and insurance solutions. They provide advice and actionable insights to clients on their Professional Liability/Errors and Omissions, Cyber & Privacy Liability, Directors & Officers Liability and commercial insurance needs. Hub International is the provider for the Engineers Canada-sponsored Secondary Professional Liability Insurance Program.
