Employers' liability insurance in Ireland
Why add employers' liability cover?
Who it is for: any business in Ireland with people on the payroll, from a two-person cafe in Galway to a roofing contractor in Cork with a seasonal crew.
What it does: it responds when an employee is injured or made ill by their work and holds you responsible, covering the compensation and your defence costs.
Why it matters here: you are not required by law to hold it, but the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 puts real duties on you as an employer, and a breach that injures someone creates civil liability you would otherwise fund yourself.
How you get it: it is not a separate policy. You add it to your Public Liability cover when you apply, so there is one policy, one price and one place to claim.
Business insurance, done differently.
Fully online business insurance in Ireland.
A few questions and you're covered.
No lock-in, no long contracts.
Excess from €0, up to €6.5 million of cover.
Our insurance is for
What is Public Liability insurance?
Your public liability insurance protects you and your business when you, your employees or your products accidentally cause harm to a third party; whether that's injury to someone or damage to their property. It ensures a simple accident doesn't turn into a claim you have to pay out of your own pocket.
If there's a chance a client could hold you liable for purely financial loss, it's worth also considering Professional Indemnity cover.
How does it work?
You tell us your activities and choose your cover amount and excess. If an accident during your work injures someone or damages their property, your policy covers the third-party claim and your defence costs.
Cover that fits your work
Public Liability adapts to what you actually do, on client sites, on your own premises, dealing with the public, or supplying products. You select your activities when you apply, so the policy matches your real day-to-day risks.
Is Public Liability insurance mandatory in Ireland?
Public Liability isn't always required by law in Ireland. However, clients, venues, landlords and local authorities often make it a condition of working with you, especially where the public is involved. It matters most for public-facing or physical work (trades, retail, beauty and hair, healthcare, events), and also if you make or sell products: if you're considered the manufacturer, product-liability claims can land with you. Get your cover from €7.55 per month with Insify.
How much does employers' liability cover cost?
How it is priced: employers' liability is added to your Public Liability policy, so you pay one premium. Public liability starts from €7.55 per month.
What moves the price: your activities, turnover, how many people you employ, the cover amount and the excess you choose.
Cover amount: €13 million per claim, and €13 million per insurance year. Unlike public liability, the yearly limit is not double the per-claim limit, it is the same figure.
Which cover do you need?
Most businesses are exposed to both. One covers injury and damage, the other financial loss from your work. You can combine them in one Insify policy. Cover limits, excess and exclusions apply. See the policy wording.
Public Liability insurance
Covers claims when your work injures someone or damages something that belongs to them. For example, someone trips over your equipment, or you damage a floor while working at a client's premises.
- Choose your cover: from €1.25 million up to €6.5 million per claim, and up to twice that per insurance year
- Excess from €0, depending on your turnover
- Staff? Add optional Employers' Liability with €13 million cover per claim
- Most relevant when your work brings you into contact with clients, the public, their premises or their belongings
Professional Indemnity insurance
Covers purely financial loss a client suffers through a professional mistake, oversight or wrong advice, with no injury or property damage involved. Think of work a client claims was unfit for purpose and cost them money.
- Choose your cover: from €125,000 up to €1.25 million per claim, and up to twice that per insurance year
- Excess from €0, depending on your turnover
- Most relevant when clients pay you for advice, programmes and plans
What's covered
Compensation and defence costs when an employee is injured or made ill by their work and holds you liable.
Cover of €13 million per claim, and €13 million per insurance year.
Available as an option on every activity Insify insures in Ireland.
Territorial scope follows your public liability policy: the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and the UK, with business trips worldwide, excluding the USA and Canada.
Damage you cause intentionally.
Damage to your own property, or injury to yourself.
Very large risks, or locations that carry major risks.
Gradual or slow-acting environmental damage. Only sudden, accidental pollution is covered.
Cyber liability.
Cover and exclusions shown are indicative and non-contractual. Only the terms of your policy apply.
Some examples
A kitchen porter in your Limerick restaurant slips on a wet floor, fractures a wrist and brings a claim for lost earnings and treatment.
A general operative on your site in Cork falls from a low platform and is out of work for months, and the claim covers compensation and your legal defence.
A long-serving warehouse employee in Dublin develops a back injury they attribute to repeated manual handling, and brings a claim against your business.
A kitchen porter in your Limerick restaurant slips on a wet floor, fractures a wrist and brings a claim for lost earnings and treatment.
A general operative on your site in Cork falls from a low platform and is out of work for months, and the claim covers compensation and your legal defence.
A long-serving warehouse employee in Dublin develops a back injury they attribute to repeated manual handling, and brings a claim against your business.
Examples are for illustrative purposes only. Compensation depends on the exact circumstances of the claim. No rights can be derived from these examples.
Your business insurance with Insify SmartGuide
Taking out insurance can be quick. Making sure you have the right cover is another matter. With Insify SmartGuide, you don't sign a contract blindly. You ask all your questions, and get clear, immediate and personalised answers, before you take out a policy.
Are you covered if you accidentally damage a client's equipment while working?
What excess should you choose?
Are you protected in the event of a dispute with a client?
Insify SmartGuide guides you step by step to understand what's covered, what isn't, and why. In just a few clicks, you build insurance that's truly tailored to your business, with complete confidence. Try Insify SmartGuide. Understand your insurance before you need it.
More than 40,000 entrepreneurs trust us
When I had to make a claim, I was amazed how quickly and efficiently it was handled. Within a few days I had a resolution.
Very friendly, quick and thorough. It gives me real confidence in taking out the cover. The company feels genuinely transparent, exactly what I look for. You don't find that often.
Very friendly, quick and thorough. It gives me real confidence in taking out the cover. The company feels genuinely transparent, exactly what I look for. You don't find that often.
When I had to make a claim, I was amazed how quickly and efficiently it was handled. Within a few days I had a resolution.
The cover itself was sorted quickly, and when I later needed support I got that fast too.
Very friendly, quick and thorough. It gives me real confidence in taking out the cover. The company feels genuinely transparent, exactly what I look for. You don't find that often.
When I had to make a claim, I was amazed how quickly and efficiently it was handled. Within a few days I had a resolution.
The cover itself was sorted quickly, and when I later needed support I got that fast too.
Questions and answers about employers' liability
No. Unlike the United Kingdom, Ireland has no statute that requires you to hold employers' liability insurance. That does not mean the risk goes away. Under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 you owe your employees a duty to provide a safe place and system of work, and you also owe them a duty of care at common law. If you fall short and someone is injured, they can sue your business and you fund the compensation and the legal costs yourself unless you are insured. Many main contractors and public bodies also require proof of cover before they will let you on site.
It is cover for claims brought by your own people. If an employee is injured, or made ill, by their work and holds you responsible, the policy pays the compensation you are legally liable for and the cost of defending the claim. It is the counterpart to public liability, which covers claims from members of the public and clients rather than staff. At Insify it is not sold on its own: you add it to a public liability policy, and the cover amount is €13 million per claim.
€13 million for any one claim, and €13 million in total per insurance year. That per-year figure is worth noting, because public liability works differently: there, your yearly limit is twice your per-claim limit. With employers' liability the two figures are the same. For most small employers €13 million is well beyond any realistic single claim, which is why the cover amount is fixed rather than something you choose.
It depends on how the people working for you are actually engaged, not on what the contract calls them. A genuinely independent subcontractor carries their own insurance, and you should ask to see it. But labour-only subcontractors, who work under your direction using your equipment, are often treated as employees for insurance purposes, and a claim from one of them would fall to employers' liability rather than to their own policy. If you use labour-only people at all, tell us when you apply so your cover matches how you really work.
No. Insify Ireland sells two policies, public liability and professional indemnity. Employers' liability is an optional add-on to public liability, not a standalone product. In practice that suits most small employers, because the same working day creates both kinds of risk: a customer tripping in your shop is a public liability claim, and a staff member doing the same is an employers' liability claim. One policy covers both.
Employers' liability insurance in Ireland covers claims brought by the people who work for you, as distinct from public liability, which covers claims from clients and the public. Insify offers it as an optional add-on to a public liability policy, with €13 million cover per claim and €13 million per insurance year, on every activity we insure. It is not compulsory in Ireland, unlike the United Kingdom, but employers still carry duties under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, and a workplace injury claim is funded from your own pocket if you are not covered. To add it, take out Public Liability from €7.55 per month and select employers' liability when you apply. If your clients could also claim against you for financial loss caused by your professional work, consider Professional Indemnity from €10.80 per month alongside it, where your activity qualifies for that cover.
Examples are for illustrative purposes only. Compensation depends on the exact circumstances of the claim. No rights can be derived from these examples.