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Liability Insurance - Common Ground Between Civil Engineers and Farmers

By Lucas Murray posted 03-14-2021 09:40 PM

  

What do civil engineers and farmers have in common apart from designing and constructing roads, buildings, silos, and dams? Insurance. 


All businesses need general liability insurance because we never know what can happen on our premises. Civil engineers concentrate on professional liability insurance because of the responsibility their decisions and designs could have. Some farmers do not see their farms as a business because it has been family-run from generation to generation, and the concept of being sued for damages is foreign.

The Basics Of General Liability

General liability, known as Commercial General Liability (CGL) insurance, protects your business from lawsuits involving physical injuries and property damage related to your operations, products, premises, completed operations, and even advertising. It can also offer financial help for legal costs.

General Liability Insurance and the Civil Engineer

As a civil engineer, CGL can protect you from everyday claims when operating your business and can cover you if:


  • Someone slips on a wet floor at your premises and breaks a leg. 

  • Workers accidentally damage a retaining wall of an adjacent property. 

  • A hand wash basin pipe repaired by a plumber burst, causing damage to the business below. 

CGL is generally designed to protect against claims such as slip and falls, product liability issues, accidental damage by a building tenant and is broad in its scope. It aims to cover physical injury or property damage caused to third parties. CGL usually excludes cover for financial losses associated with services rendered for a fee such as professional fees.


Professional indemnity liability, known otherwise as errors and omissions insurance, protects firms and individuals from financial losses their paying clients may endure because of the advice or services they did or didn't provide. It usually excludes physical injury and property damage as a result of professional services rendered. There may be some exceptions in some professions, such as architects and engineers. 

Agricultural Liability Insurance and the Farmer

Farming plays an integral role in our economy's backbone. As a farmer, you have to contend with extreme weather patterns, fire, disease, operational challenges, and fluctuations in supply and demand. 


As a business, you need liability insurance, also known as responsibility insurance. This will cover you if a visitor hurts themselves or if your workers damage their belongings in the course of their daily tasks, and you can visit the website for a more detailed explanation.


You should be covered for injuries to persons or damage to their property and include some of the following.


  • Medical costs for injured persons
  • Accidental damage caused by you or your staff
  • Legal costs
  • Legal repercussions for your or your staff's actions anywhere in the world
  • Cover for legal responsibility arising from the ownership, use, or occupancy of the farm 
  • Liability arising from normal farming operations
  • Property damage to rented residences or outbuildings
  • Pesticide application liability

Optional Coverage for Farmers

As a farmer, you face many more challenges than many other industries, and you may need specialized cover. Here are a few worth mentioning.

Livestock Liability

You can cover your livestock for the eventuality that they cause damage when at a show or plowing match.

Construction Liability

Building construction cover may be necessary if you act as your own contractor and erect new buildings or maintain existing structures on your farm. It will protect you from any claim for physical injury to any of your employees.

Farmer's Market Liability

A person might have an allergic reaction to one of your products or slip on a banana and break an arm. Usually, the person will sue the vendor, so this type of insurance can protect you.

Farm Tour liability

Many farmers boost income with agritourism, and if you offer hay cart rides or horse rides for visitors, it would be advisable to take out cover to protect you against the possibility of anyone getting injured.

Pollution Liability

Most farmers would never dream of polluting the environment, but some processes may cause damage. This type of cover will help to clean up damage caused by pollution.

A Final Point

With insurance, we are all in the same boat. Whether we design a large hydroelectric or a farm dam or plant trees in the courtyard or crops in the field, we could be held liable for accidents on our property.


It is the small things that can sometimes bring a business to its knees. That is why we need liability insurance to cover ourselves for any eventuality. 

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