Plastering is a wet, dusty trade working inside finished rooms, and its claims follow from exactly that. The public liability claims are damage rather than injury: plaster on a wood floor, a splashed kitchen, a ceiling that came down in the wrong order, water through a downstairs ceiling. The employers' liability claims are slower and arrive as respiratory disease years after the exposure that caused it.
Damage to the room you are working in
General public liability commonly excludes property in your care, custody or control, and a plasterer is working inside the very room the damage happens to. Floors, skirtings, kitchens, bathrooms and furniture that was covered but not covered enough are the recurring claims. The extension that answers for them carries its own, lower limit, and for this trade it matters more than the headline figure.
Dust, silica and the long tail
Sanding, mixing and cutting produce dust, and construction dust containing silica is a recognised cause of serious lung disease. That is an employers' liability exposure with a very long tail: a claim can arrive many years after the work, and the policy that answers is the one that was in force at the time of exposure. It is also why employers' liability records are kept for decades rather than years.
Water, and the drying out
Mixing, washing out and the water used in the work all end up somewhere, and a plasterer working above an occupied floor has the same escape of water exposure a plumber has, without the same awareness of it. Dehumidifiers and heaters used to dry work out introduce a fire and an electrical risk of their own, particularly when left running overnight in an empty property.
Tools, the mixer and the van
A mixer, a stilts set, boards and a whisk are not individually valuable and the van holding them is a routine theft target. The tools section's conditions about locked vans and overnight parking decide these claims, and plasterers working away from home for a week should read them before parking anywhere unfamiliar.
Questions people ask about plasterer insurance
How much public liability does a plasterer need?
One or two million pounds for domestic work; five million where a main contractor, housing association or local authority requires it, which is the usual figure on managed sites.
Am I covered for plaster on a customer's floor?
Only with an extension for damage to property in your care, custody or control. Plain public liability commonly excludes the room you are working in, which for a plasterer is most of the exposure.
Is dust related illness covered?
Employers' liability answers for work related disease in employees, and the policy that responds is the one in force at the time of exposure. That is why the records are kept for decades and why dust control matters to the claim as well as to the person.
Do I need cover for drying equipment left overnight?
Dehumidifiers and heaters left running introduce a fire risk that insurers ask about, and some wordings carry conditions about unattended equipment in unoccupied property. It is worth checking before the first winter job.