Professional Liability Insurance (E&O) for Civil Engineers

We provide professional liability insurance to civil engineers in select states. This type of coverage is also called errors and omissions (E&O) insurance.

What do civil engineers do?

Civil engineering involves the planning, design, construction supervision and maintenance of large and various public and private projects, such as buildings, bridges, roads, transit systems, dams, airports, tunnels, offshore structures, and water systems.

Civil engineering is the broadest engineering discipline and includes multiple sub-disciplines such as environmental, geotechnical engineering, structural engineering, nanotechnology, materials engineering, transportation engineering, and many others.

They use computer-aided design and must consider multiple factors impacting a project, including the cost of construction and maintenance, regulations including the environmental impact, and natural hazards such as flood, hurricanes, extreme temperatures and earthquakes.

Why do civil engineers need professional liability insurance?

Civil engineers deal with complex issues which involve a high level of technical ability and knowledge. Because of the nature of their work, they have multiple opportunities to make an error or omission while working on a project. In the event of a lawsuit, they will have to defend their work and could be liable for large sums of money if found to have been negligent. Civil engineers working on large projects can also be included in a lawsuit, along with all other professionals involved in the project, even if no error or omission was made. In any case, legal fees tend to be significant.

It is therefore vital for civil engineers to have professional liability insurance protection.

What protection does a professional liability insurance policy provide?

Professional liability insurance provides civil engineers with protection against damages and legal fees. Professional liability policies provide coverage for claims made against engineers by reason of a negligent act, error or omission in the performance of services.

What policy limits and deductibles are available?

Professional liability policy coverage starts at $100,000/$100,000 (per claim/annual aggregate) up to policy limits of $5 million/$5 million. The most common policy limits for professional liability coverage are $1 million/$1 million. Deductibles starting at $1,000 are generally available.