What Insurance Do Electricians Need?

An electrician is a role that is essential for society to work as it does. On a day-to-day basis, the vast majority of people rely on electricity to help them lead productive and comfortable lives. From lighting to electrical kitchen appliances, electric showers, electric heating, personal care appliances, entertainment devices and even electric vehicles, we rely on electricity to power many facets of our lives.

Now, of course, sometimes issues arise with electric supplies or electrically powered items that require a professional’s help. This is where electricians come in.

To become an electrician, lots of training is required, as it’s a dangerous job that needs to be completed to a high standard not only for your own safety, but for the safety of anyone who later interacts with your work afterwards. Once your training is complete, you still need to invest in insurance that will cover you, your work, and anyone who might work for you. This will help to protect you against any costs that can result from mistakes, errors, or other problems in your professional life.

It’s important that you know which types of insurance you need for your trade in order to choose the right insurance policy, so here’s some more information regarding what insurance electricians in NJ need.

The Importance of Insurance

Insurance is essential for anyone working in a trade, especially one that is as potentially dangerous as electrical work. There are many things that can go wrong in trade related jobs – ranging from harm coming to yourself to others experiencing harm because of your work. Since electrical faults can cause major damage, they can lead to large claims, which would be impossible for you to pay personally.

Insurance will protect you and your customers or clients.

General Liability Insurance

Let’s start with one of the absolute essentials with electrician’s insurance. The NJ Board of Electrical Contractors requires electricians to take out general liability insurance covering a minimum value of $300,000.

If you haven’t heard of liability insurance before, it is a type of insurance that will provide you with protection against claims resulting from injuries and damage to other people or property. If you carry out electrical work that harms someone physically or mentally, or damages their property, because of error or other problems, having a good liability insurance policy will ensure that you don’t personally have to cover the legal costs and payouts that will follow.

Of course, it’s important to remember that intentional damage and contractual liabilities are not usually covered in liability insurance policies. The policy will also usually pay the third party directly, rather than you receiving the payout and passing it on.

Of course, you probably don’t want to stick with the absolute minimum. When it comes down to it, most contractors take out higher coverage, as there isn’t an enormous difference in cost between you covering yourself to the sum of $300,000 and covering yourself for the sum of $500,000 or even $1,000,000.

It’s important that you look for quotes that really suit your needs and protect you against potential claims in worst-case scenarios.

Workers’ Compensation Insurance

If you have any staff working for you, workers’ compensation insurance is also going to be essential. As we’ve already established, being an electrician is dangerous work. As an employer, you will be legally obligated to ensure that your workplaces are safe and that your workers are safe while doing their job.

Unfortunately, no matter how careful you may be, accidents do sometimes occur. Therefore, you need to take out workers’ compensation insurance.

This type of insurance policy has two main purposes. The first is that it ensures that your workers can get any medical care they need without worrying about the cost and that they receive compensation for a portion of the income they lose while they cannot return to work.

It will also protect you from any lawsuits from workers who have experienced any form of injury while working. The insurance will cover the compensation and payout if things get to this stage, rather than you having to pay the money yourself.

It’s important to remember that workers will receive benefits regardless of who was at fault in the accident and that if a worker dies while working, workers’ compensation will also provide death benefits for the worker’s dependents. The rules regarding worker’s compensation vary from state to state.

The State of New Jersey passed its workers’ compensation law in 1911, making coverage mandatory for all employers. Workers’ compensation in NJ should cover:

• Medical Treatment – To help injured workers receive the medical care they need and recover. New Jersey law gives you or your insurance company the right to choose the healthcare provider for treatment.
• Lost Wages – To ensure that workers can financially afford the time off required to recover.
• Ongoing Medical Care Costs – Including physical therapy or surgeries.
• Temporary Total Disability Benefits – If your employee can’t work for over seven days.
• Permanent Partial Disability Benefits – Dependent on the type and severity of your employee’s injury.
• Permanent Total Disability Benefits – If your employee lost two major body parts or can’t work at all.
• Death Benefits – Such as funeral costs if your employee died because of a work-related incident.

These are just two types of insurance that you will need to consider if you’re undertaking work as an electrician. Keep them in mind, do some research and find the right provider to meet your needs. It’s essential that you do this and find the right policy before taking on any electrical work.