A workshop is a building with machines in it, usually holding work belonging to somebody else. Insurers price the machines, the building and the other people's property as three separate questions, and the third is the one most often left out.
Customers' property on the bench
Items brought in for repair, restoration, service or making are somebody else's property in your custody, which public liability generally excludes. A customers' goods or goods in trust section covers them, and the limit should reflect the busiest week rather than the typical one. A single valuable item, a piece of furniture, an instrument, a machine, can exceed a general limit on its own, which is worth checking before it arrives rather than after it is damaged.
Machinery, extraction and dust
Saws, lathes, planers, welders and grinders are the property exposure and the injury exposure at once, and wood dust and metal swarf are a fire risk insurers treat seriously. Extraction, housekeeping, hot work procedures and electrical inspection are common conditions rather than suggestions. Machinery breakdown is a separate cover from damage: a failed motor or control board stops production without any insured damage having occurred.
The building, the lease and who insures what
Most workshops are rented industrial or arch units, and the lease decides whether the tenant or the landlord insures the structure. Tenants' improvements, racking, benches, extraction and three phase installations are frequently the tenant's property inside the landlord's building, and neither policy covers them unless somebody says so. Shared units and shared yards raise questions about who is responsible for what when a fire crosses a party wall.
People, visitors and the apprentice
Employers' liability covers anybody working there, rated on what they operate rather than on the payroll alone, and machinery injuries are severe. Visitors, customers collecting work and delivery drivers are third parties in a hazardous space, which is what public liability answers for. Apprentices and young workers attract specific questions about supervision and training, because the regulator and the insurer are both looking at the same exposure.
Questions people ask about workshop insurance
Are customers' items in the workshop covered?
Only under a customers' goods or goods in trust section. Public liability generally excludes property in your care, custody and control.
Is machinery breakdown the same as damage?
No. Breakdown covers a failure with no insured damage, such as a burnt out motor, and is a separate section from accidental damage or fire.
Who insures a rented workshop unit?
The lease decides. Tenants' improvements, benches, racking and extraction are usually the tenant's property inside the landlord's building and need naming.