[Dave Willis]

Just a thought. Can you be insured for ladder use? If you come off could you claim? As a sole trader that is.

[windymiller]

Public liability or personal insurance?

[Dave Willis]

Personal mainly but I suppose you could land on a person. 

I use ladders to inspect gutters, windies still clean from ladders but how many could claim on insurance should they fall? I don't have anything specifically for ladder use although I do have some kind of income replacement cover.

[windymiller]

I have public liability for trad.
I suppose for peronal it would be same.
You would have to tell the broker/company you go up down ladders for your living, most probably alter the amount you pay.

[steve rix]

Yes you can. I'm with Iof and Gleaming

[Nathanael Jones]

Every insurance policy has small print about not being covered for actions outside the law - - I've yet to hear of it happening, but insurers will go to great lengths to refuse a claim & breach of WAHR would be a great reason not to pay out,....

Just make sure your risk assessments and method statements are in order for EVERY job where you use ladders!

[PoleKing]

Every insurance policy has small print about not being covered for actions outside the law - - I've yet to hear of it happening, but insurers will go to great lengths to refuse a claim & breach of WAHR would be a great reason not to pay out,....

Just make sure your risk assessments and method statements are in order for EVERY job where you use ladders!

Not to contradict Nat but you don't need RAMS if you're a sole trader (as OP is)

[Nathanael Jones]

Every insurance policy has small print about not being covered for actions outside the law - - I've yet to hear of it happening, but insurers will go to great lengths to refuse a claim & breach of WAHR would be a great reason not to pay out,....

Just make sure your risk assessments and method statements are in order for EVERY job where you use ladders!

Not to contradict Nat but you don't need RAMS if you're a sole trader (as OP is)

Where did you hear that?

[PoleKing]

To be honest I can't remember.
I could probably dig it out though...
RAMS is only specifically needed if you are an employer/employed with more than 5 staff.
From my understanding.
I'm not saying it isn't a good idea, just that's it's not a legal requirement.

[Ian_Giles]

Getting insurance isn't a problem and quite regardless of any written method statements or risk assessments it's when you go to claim that problems may arise.
If you haven't followed health & safety regs to the letter then you could well end up screwed...and the ridiculous thing is, with most standard policies you are not actually covered should you...for instance...break the window you are actually cleaning!
You can get covered but your premium will shoot up quite alarmingly!!

I'll bet insurance companies in general rub their collective hands in glee at every new tier of rules & regs that health & safety inflict upon us as it gives them yet another reason to pay out when an accident happens  

[Ian_Giles]

Oops!  ::
A typo at the end of my last post, was meant to read any excuse NOT to pay out of course 

[Dave Willis]

I have insurance for glass i'm working on, it's next to useless though. I cracked a small window with hot water last winter, no problem I thought until I discovered the excess was £500 

I can see public liability being easy enough to obtain but personal cover maybe open to health and safety laws.
A customer of mine had a set of ladders down the side of his house - I told his wife to get him to clear his own gutters out she replied he couldn't because he wasn't insured to use them. 

Got me thinking.

[SunShineCleaning]

Every insurance policy has small print about not being covered for actions outside the law - - I've yet to hear of it happening, but insurers will go to great lengths to refuse a claim & breach of WAHR would be a great reason not to pay out,....

Just make sure your risk assessments and method statements are in order for EVERY job where you use ladders!

Not to contradict Nat but you don't need RAMS if you're a sole trader (as OP is)

You need a RAMS, however you don't need to have a written record unless you have 5 employees. It is however sensible to have one anyway.

[Dave Willis]

I did wonder if an insurance company might latch on to wahd and simply say there was no need for you to be up a ladder in the first place.

[robertphil]

you need to be sure the insurance firm has you down as using ladders and how much percentage of your work is on them . you know you are in the correct category when they go into detail about the height maximum . its been my experience that  some will only cover up to 7 metres, but most cover is for up to 10m as standard for window cleaning .  

[KS Cleaning]

Personal mainly but I suppose you could land on a person. 

I use ladders to inspect gutters, windies still clean from ladders but how many could claim on insurance should they fall? I don't have anything specifically for ladder use although I do have some kind of income replacement cover.

Who is the income replacement cover with? There is usually a lot of grey areas with this cover if you are self employed, the main one being that most companies will only payout a maximum of 75% of your TAXABLE income.

[Dave Willis]

Yes true and you still keep paying the monthly fees whilst you're off work.

[PoleKing]

Every insurance policy has small print about not being covered for actions outside the law - - I've yet to hear of it happening, but insurers will go to great lengths to refuse a claim & breach of WAHR would be a great reason not to pay out,....

Just make sure your risk assessments and method statements are in order for EVERY job where you use ladders!

Not to contradict Nat but you don't need RAMS if you're a sole trader (as OP is)

You need a RAMS, however you don't need to have a written record unless you have 5 employees. It is however sensible to have one anyway.

That sounds like what I thought.
The fact that it doesn't need to be written down.

[Total shine cleaning services]

the main problem is when you go to claim, you can be insured to go up a ladder but If you were to actually fall and hurt yourself then most insurance companies would not pay out as you have proved that you did not put yourself into full fall arrest, ie ladder lashed, rope grab and harness, I take my own risks on ladders only but my employee is allowed to gate hop only..when I worked at sky as a fitter you were not allowed over 9 rungs high without eyebolt, ladder lash, rope grab and harness due to restrictions laid down by the insurance company, was exactly the same when I was installing cavity wall insulation a few years back, had a long chat with gleaming last year and they said the same, if you have not put yourself into full fall arrest then you would be very lucky to be paid out-sad but true..!

graham