Professional Liability - Insurance Issues 3

[Hercul3s]

Dear Colleagues,

I am a structural engineer. I just recently obtained my PE license and I just landed a job with a Rigging and Heavy Hauling Contracting firm in New Jersey. They were looking for an in-house licensed engineer and I am the only engineer there. They tell me that my work, under the firm's name, is covered by their insurance policy. I found out though, that they don't have "Errors and Omissions" insurance.
I really want to keep this job, so could someone tell me how safe it is for me to certify works without the E&O insurance if the firm has other types of insurance? Am I exposing my license to too much liability? Am I risking my license??

Thank you very much for your help!

Sincerely,
-Hercules P.

 

[davidbeach]

Probably better to try one of the work issues forums here rather than this one. Not much traffic in Forensic Engineering and your question has nothing to do with Forensic Engineering. Try one of the forums at

http://www.eng-tips.com/threadcategory.cfm?lev2=88.

 

[JAE]

If your company has general insurance, this usually does not cover professional E&O liability. You could probably ask your company's insurance carrier for an opinion on this. Also, try calling some local professional liability insurance firms that deal with A & E firms. They could probably give you a little insight.

 

[Ron]

Hercul3s...
Yes..wrong forum, and you'll get many more responses from the business practices forum, but I was so excited to see some activity in this forum that I'll offer my $0.02 anyway!

Agree with JAE...get an insurance carrier to opine on this one. Your company likely has commercial general liability (CGL) insurance that has limited or no coverage for professional acts, errors and omissions, depending on how those items are defined by your practice.

In some cases, since you are not really providing services to the public, there might be other insurance coverages and policy types that would better protect you and the company than a strict E&O policy. In any case, make sure that you are indemnified by your company for any of your work that you do for them. Keep in mind that as a licensed professional, you can be sued separately from your company (look up joint and several liability).

Your company probably enters into typical subcontracts which are usually silent on professional liability and protection. Review the contracts carefully to see that you are not being tagged with excessive liability as a licensed professional working under your company. Particularly review your own company's contracts as they might have been written on the basis of using an outside engineer (with liability shift), not an internal engineer (to protect).

Good luck. Don't get put in a position of compromising your engineering judgment for company expedience...happens easily when engineers work for contractors.

 

[dik]

Doesn't take much to turn your crank, Ron...

Dik

 

[Ron]

Dik...you're right! I'm easy!

 

[Hercul3s]

Thank you very much, Ron!! That was just the help I needed!