Personal liability insurance

[Mustard Dave]

Ultimately you need to ensure you are covered, however, this does not mean you have to provide it. Duty of care to the customer lies with the person offering and receiving payment for the service. If I was you, I would query this with the dive centre, ideally by email or writing so you have a record.

It amazes me that diving pros are prepared to pay for their own liability insurance when working for an employer; how many people in other forms of employment do this?

 

[tursiops]

I've never been an employee of a dive shop, only a contractor. I buy my insurance.

 

[JackD342]

I can't speak to the offshore/Caribbean aspect, but if it follows the same standards as PADI in the US, here are some more insights or thoughts:

First, find out from that operation where you guide just what is going on with their insurance. They should be able to provide a clear answer.
My shop coverage can cover any other professional in good standing that I specify, for my business activity only, for one flat cost - not per person. The downside of that is that the liability aggregate per event is not per person, it is per policy. So if something happened, the effective upper limit of coverage is lower than the sum of individual policies. (Yes, I can pay for a higher limit if I choose.)

Also, if/when at some point you stop "working" as a pro, be sure to pay for an inactive status policy for a few years after. The V&B policies are "claims made" and not "occurrence." So if you aren't insured today, and someone sues over an incident from last year when you were insured, you are SOL.

 

[t-i-m-1]

You should consider the exact T & C's.
In the past I have had insurance that requires a seven year run off after you stop teaching. The policy I have now covers the time period insured at the time, regardless of whether you are insured now. eg you taught a student in 2015 and were insured then, but not now, you would still be covered if there was an issue related to that 2015 lesson.

 

[stretchthepenn]

Ultimately you need to ensure you are covered, however, this does not mean you have to provide it. Duty of care to the customer lies with the person offering and receiving payment for the service. If I was you, I would query this with the dive centre, ideally by email or writing so you have a record.

It amazes me that diving pros are prepared to pay for their own liability insurance when working for an employer; how many people in other forms of employment do this?

In higher education, many department chairpersons pay for their own professional liability insurance; the college/university will look out for itself and may not pay to defend a chair, even if the defense is warranted.

 

[Parklander]

Lawyers Rick Lesser and Jorge Lopez gave a talk on this at DEMA. The Dark Side of Diving Litigation 2017- A MUST-Attend DEMA Show Seminar - DiveNewswire

Any highlight from the talk?