Liability insurance for professionals such as Architects, Engineers, and Industrial First Aid providers is offered by insurance companies under its own insurance policy.

The Professional Liability insurance policy is written on a “Claims Made” basis as opposed to an “Occurrence” basis. This means that the professional insurance policy recognizes an accidental loss has occurred when a “written demand/notification on any given incident has been presented” to the professional.

The written demand/notification can be presented to a professional some time after an incident has arisen that causes a loss. Until a written demand/notification has been presented, it is considered that there has been no loss or claim that has happened.

The Professional Liability Insurance policies contain very specific insuring agreements, conditions, definitions and exclusions; therefore, it is crucial that all professionals discuss this type of policy in complete detail to ensure an understanding of the policy is gained.

The reason for having a separate insurance policy to cover “professional” exposures is that the Commercial General Liability insurance policy specifically “excludes” coverage for accidents arising out of a professional’s activities.

Directors and Officers liability insurance policies are a form of professional liability insurance designed to provide liability insurance to the directors and officers of a company for alleged losses that have caused by or arisen out of a “Wrongful Act” on the part of a Director or Officer of a company. This coverage also extends to cover the corporation as an insured in certain circumstances

The definition of “wrongful act” under the policy is very broadly defined and includes actions wrongfully taken by a Director or Officer as well as failures on the part of a Director or Officer to take certain actions in a given circumstance that a prudent person would normally

Directors and Officers Liability insurance policies can be arranged on private for profit corporations, public for profit organizations and non-profit organizations.

There are available Environmental Liability insurance policies for business and industry that have exposures that could cause damage to the environment. Environmental damage, caused by accident, may be required under statute law or otherwise to be cleaned up or rectified.

Frequently, an environmental spill of pollutants or an environmental contamination incident are very expensive and financially cost prohibitive for many businesses who are required to pay for the environmental rectification/clean up.

Any and every business who is working with materials that pose an environmental hazard or using products and materials that pose an environmental hazard need to consider whether they have such exposures and whether they need to consider transferring risks of financial loss of this nature to an insurance company.