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Duct cleaning - buying well
Fully insured appears on almost every contractor's website, and it sounds reassuring - but it is a vague phrase that is easy to claim and means little on its own. When you are letting a contractor onto your premises to do higher-risk work, it is worth knowing what fully insured should actually mean: the right types of cover, at adequate levels, current and appropriate to the work. Here is what to look for behind the phrase.
The short answer
Fully insured is a phrase almost every contractor uses, and on its own it means very little, because it has no fixed definition and is easy to claim. When you are letting a contractor onto your premises to do higher-risk work - working at height, with the fire risk of grease, in your operating business - it is worth knowing what fully insured should actually mean, so you can check the substance rather than take the phrase on trust. It should mean, first, that the contractor holds the right types of cover for the work. The key one is public liability insurance, which covers injury to third parties (your staff, visitors) and damage to their property - meaning your premises and equipment - arising from the contractor's work; this is the cover that protects you if something goes wrong while they are on your site. If the contractor employs staff, employers' liability insurance is also required - it is compulsory by law for employers, covering claims from their own workers injured on the job, with a legal minimum of five million pounds of cover (most carry ten). Where a contractor gives advice or writes specifications, professional indemnity may be relevant too. Second, fully insured should mean the cover is current and valid - a policy that lapsed is no protection - and at limits appropriate to the work and your site: the level of public liability a client should expect scales with the environment and the potential for harm, so a substantial commercial site warrants substantial cover. Third, it should mean the contractor can show you the certificates, readily, on request - because a genuine claim to be insured is backed by documents, and a contractor who cannot or will not produce them has not really substantiated the phrase. So fully insured should mean the right cover, current, at adequate limits, and evidenced - not just three words on a website. Checking that is quick, reasonable, and tells you whether the reassuring phrase has anything behind it.
Key points
Why the phrase means little
Fully insured sounds like a guarantee, but as a phrase it means almost nothing on its own, for a simple reason: it has no fixed definition and no verification behind it. Any contractor can write fully insured on their website, and there is nothing in the words that says what cover they hold, at what level, or whether it is current - so the phrase can sit equally on a contractor with comprehensive, appropriate insurance and on one with minimal or lapsed cover. It is reassuring by design and vague by design, and taking it at face value tells you very little about whether you are actually protected. This is not to say contractors who use the phrase are dishonest - most are perfectly properly insured - but the phrase itself does not distinguish them from those who are not, which is exactly the problem.
This matters because insurance is precisely what you rely on when something goes wrong, and something going wrong is when you discover whether the reassuring phrase had substance. If a contractor damages your premises or equipment, or someone is injured through their work, the question that suddenly matters is whether they hold cover that responds - the right type, current, at an adequate level. A vague fully insured on a website is no help at that point; what helps is actual, appropriate, current cover, evidenced. So the value of knowing what fully insured should mean is that it lets you check for the substance before you need it, rather than discovering its absence after. The phrase is a starting point, not an answer: it invites the question what cover, exactly, and how much, and is it current, and the answers - not the phrase - are what tell you whether you are protected. Knowing what to look for is how you turn a vague claim into a real check.
The cover that protects you
The type of cover that matters most to you as the client is public liability insurance, because it is the cover that protects you if the contractor's work causes harm. Public liability covers injury to third parties - which includes your staff and visitors - and damage to their property, which includes your premises and equipment, arising from the contractor's work. So if the contractor, while cleaning your ductwork or extraction, damages your kitchen, causes a fire, or injures someone, their public liability insurance is what responds to the claim - protecting you from bearing the loss yourself. This is why public liability is the cover to ask about first: it is the one that stands between you and the cost if their work goes wrong on your site. A contractor doing higher-risk work on your premises without adequate public liability is a real exposure for you, whatever their website says.
The level of public liability cover matters as much as its existence, because the potential for harm scales with the work and the environment. Cleaning a grease extraction system involves working at height, with a fire risk, in an operating commercial premises - so the potential cost if something goes badly wrong (a serious fire, significant damage) can be large, and the cover should be commensurate. The level of public liability a client should reasonably expect scales with the environment: a substantial commercial site, with substantial potential for harm, warrants substantial cover, whereas a minimal policy might be inadequate to the actual risk. So fully insured, properly understood, includes public liability at a level appropriate to the work - not just any public liability, but enough to cover the realistic worst case on your site. This is the heart of what fully insured should mean for you: the cover that protects you, the client, held at a level that matches the risk of the work being done.
The other cover types
Beyond public liability, fully insured should include employers' liability insurance if the contractor employs staff - and this one is not optional but legally required. Employers' liability covers claims from a contractor's own workers who are injured or made ill through their work, and it is compulsory by law for employers in the UK, with a legal minimum of five million pounds of cover (most insurers provide ten). So a contractor who employs people is required to hold it, and its absence would be both a legal breach on their part and a sign of a contractor not running their business properly. While employers' liability protects the contractor's workers rather than you directly, its presence is part of a properly insured contractor, and its absence is a red flag about how seriously they take their obligations. So checking for employers' liability, where the contractor has staff, is part of checking that fully insured has substance.
A third type, professional indemnity insurance, becomes relevant where a contractor gives advice or handles specifications - for example, advising on a cleaning regime, writing a specification, or certifying work. Professional indemnity covers claims that the contractor's professional advice or service caused a client financial loss, so it is relevant where you are relying on their expertise and judgement, not just their physical work. For straightforward cleaning it may be less central than public liability, but for work involving advice, assessment or certification it can matter. So the full picture of what fully insured should mean is: public liability (the cover that protects you), employers' liability (compulsory if they employ staff), and professional indemnity where advice or specification is involved - the right combination for the work being done. Fully insured is not one policy but the appropriate set of covers for the contractor's activities, and knowing which apply lets you check that the right ones are actually held.
Current, adequate, and evidenced
Two further things complete what fully insured should mean: the cover must be current, and it must be evidenced. Current matters because a policy that has lapsed is no protection at all - so fully insured should mean cover that is in force now, not a policy the contractor once held. And adequate limits matter, as covered above: cover at levels appropriate to the work and your site, not a minimal policy that would be exhausted by a realistic claim. So the substance behind fully insured is not just the right types of cover but current cover at adequate limits - which is why the phrase alone, saying nothing about currency or level, is so uninformative. A proper check asks not just whether they are insured but whether the cover is in force and enough.
The way to check all of this is simple: ask to see the certificates. A genuinely insured contractor holds insurance certificates - documents from their insurer stating the cover types, the limits, and the period of validity - and a proper contractor provides them readily on request, because they have nothing to hide and are used to being asked. The certificates answer the questions the phrase does not: what cover, at what level, valid until when. So the practical meaning of checking that a contractor is fully insured is asking for and looking at the certificates, and satisfying yourself that the cover is the right type, at an adequate level, and current. A contractor who produces them promptly has substantiated the phrase; one who cannot, or is evasive, has not - and that itself is informative. Asking is reasonable, quick and normal for higher-risk work on your premises, and it turns fully insured from a vague reassurance into a checked fact. That is what fully insured should actually mean: not a phrase to take on trust, but the right cover, current and adequate, that the contractor can show you.
The takeaway
Fully insured is on almost every contractor's website and means little on its own, because it has no fixed definition and is easy to claim - it can sit equally on a properly insured contractor and on one with minimal or lapsed cover. When you are letting a contractor do higher-risk work on your premises, it is worth knowing what the phrase should actually mean, so you can check the substance. It should mean the right types of cover: public liability above all (which protects you and your premises if their work causes injury or damage), employers' liability (compulsory if they employ staff, minimum five million pounds), and professional indemnity where advice or specification is involved.
It should also mean the cover is current - a lapsed policy is no protection - and at limits appropriate to the work and your site, because the potential for harm from higher-risk work on a substantial commercial premises can be large and the cover should match it. And it should mean the contractor can show you the certificates, readily, on request - the documents that state the cover types, limits and validity, and answer the questions the phrase does not. So checking that a contractor is fully insured means asking for and looking at those certificates, and satisfying yourself that the cover is the right type, adequate, and in force. That turns fully insured from a vague reassurance into a checked fact - which is what it should be when you are trusting a contractor with your premises.
Questions
Because the phrase has no fixed meaning and no verification behind it. Any contractor can write fully insured, and the words say nothing about what cover they hold, at what level, or whether it is current - so the phrase can sit equally on a contractor with comprehensive, appropriate insurance and one with minimal or lapsed cover. It is reassuring but uninformative. This matters because insurance is exactly what you rely on when something goes wrong, and that is when you discover whether the phrase had substance. So fully insured on a website is a starting point that invites the real questions - what cover, how much, and is it current - rather than an answer. The substance is in the certificates, not the phrase.
Public liability insurance covers injury to third parties - including your staff and visitors - and damage to their property, which includes your premises and equipment, arising from the contractor's work. It matters to you because it is the cover that protects you if the contractor's work causes harm: if they damage your kitchen, cause a fire, or injure someone while cleaning your ductwork, their public liability insurance is what responds to the claim, so you do not bear the loss. For higher-risk work on your premises, it is the cover to ask about first, because it stands between you and the cost if their work goes wrong. And its level should match the risk - a substantial site with substantial potential for harm warrants substantial cover.
No - they cover different things. Public liability covers injury or damage to third parties (including you, the client) from the contractor's work, and is the cover that protects you. Employers' liability covers claims from the contractor's own employees who are injured or made ill through their work, and it protects the contractor's workers rather than you directly. The key difference for checking a contractor is that employers' liability is compulsory by law for any employer, with a legal minimum of five million pounds, so a contractor who employs staff must hold it - its absence is both a legal breach and a red flag. So you want to see both: public liability because it protects you, and employers' liability because it shows the contractor meets a basic legal obligation.
Enough to match the risk of the work and your site, because the potential for harm scales with both. Employers' liability has a legal minimum of five million pounds, with most carrying ten. Public liability has no fixed legal level, so the appropriate amount depends on the environment: higher-risk work (at height, with a fire risk) on a substantial commercial premises can produce large claims if something goes badly wrong, so the cover should be commensurate - a substantial site warrants substantial cover, and a minimal policy may be inadequate to the actual risk. Rather than a single number, the principle is that the cover should be enough to meet the realistic worst case for the work on your site. The certificates state the limits, so you can check them against the risk.
Ask to see the insurance certificates. A genuinely insured contractor holds certificates from their insurer stating the cover types, the limits, and the period of validity, and a proper contractor provides them readily on request - because they have nothing to hide and are used to being asked. The certificates answer the questions the phrase fully insured does not: what cover, at what level, valid until when. Look for public liability at a level appropriate to the work and your site, employers' liability if they employ staff, and that the cover is current. Asking is reasonable, quick and normal for higher-risk work on your premises. A contractor who produces the certificates promptly has substantiated their claim; one who is evasive has not, which is itself informative.
It matters where the contractor gives advice or handles specifications, more than for the physical cleaning itself. Professional indemnity covers claims that a contractor's professional advice or service caused a client financial loss, so it is relevant where you rely on their expertise and judgement - for instance advising on a cleaning regime, writing a specification, or certifying work to a standard. For straightforward physical cleaning, public liability is the central cover; but where the work involves assessment, advice or certification (as duct and extraction work sometimes does, with reports and compliance certificates), professional indemnity can be relevant. So it is part of the full picture where advice or specification is involved, alongside public and employers' liability - the right combination depending on exactly what the contractor does for you.
Fully insured should mean the right cover, current and appropriate to the work - and evidenced. We hold cover suited to higher-risk extraction and duct work, and we are happy to show it. Ask us.
