Professional Indemnity Insurance for freelance GIS?
The US has a reputation for being more litigious, so I'd expect insurance to cost less else-where. Here's what I pay in Texas:
Insurer Quoted: ACE; AM Best Rating of A+ (Superior); Size XV
Coverage Amount - $ 1,000,000 Per Occurrence
$ 1,000,000 Annual Aggregate
$ 2,500 Deductible
$850.00 Annual Premium
For this, covered events are:
- Negligent acts, errors or omissions in the delivery of IT services
- Failure to prevent denial of service, unauthorized access or use, introduction of malicious code
- Duty to defend against all actions brought against you which are, judging by the allegations, potentially within coverage of the policy
- First Dollar Defense (Deductible does not apply to defense costs)
- Extends your professional services coverage to individual independent contractors (1099s) working under contract on your behalf
- Failure of the technology services to perform as intended
- Staffing liability included for IT recruiting and placement services
- Failure to prevent identity theft or disclosure of personally identifiable information stored in electronic format on your servers
- Innocent insured provision - coverage in the event of intentional wrongful acts of employees as long as management was not aware or involved
- Media Liability - Liability associated with content copyright, trademark infringement, invasion or interference with right to privacy for online media and online publishing services
- Does NOT include intellectual property liability coverage. (Ask your representative for more information)
I know the post is old, but as the originator I feel it's legitimate to bump it in order to provide a somewhat belated follow-up for the benefit of anybody else going down the freelance route who might find this post in a search. This will be mostly of use to UK people.
After getting confused in the realms of insurance, company tax and much else besides I joined the Federation for Small Businesses because the support and advice that the FSB provides is astonishing, including comprehensive legal cover and advice on dealing with HMRC (I think the equivalent organisation in the USA is the IRS and I believe HMRC is equally cuddly). They even provide free business banking and competitive telephone/broadband. As well as a ton of other services, the FSB also offers insurance brokerage. So, I put myself in their hands and have secured cover for £500,000 per occurrence at a premium of approximately £290 per annum.
If you are going freelance in the UK I would strongly recommend joining the FSB!