Your Guide to Engineering Inspection & Insurance

Engineering cover is a multifaceted policy that applies across a wide range of businesses. Whether you are a property owner with a lift or electric gates, or a commercial business with racking or pallet trucks, you can take this policy out through an insurance broker. Despite the name, it's relevant to almost any organisation that relies on mechanical, electrical, or pressurised equipment to operate safely day-to-day — and it's often overlooked simply because people assume "engineering insurance" only applies to factories or heavy industry.

This guide breaks the policy down into its two halves, so you understand exactly what each one protects and why both matter for keeping your business compliant, safe, and running smoothly.

There are two types of cover under this policy:

1. Engineering Inspection – covers your legal requirement to have equipment formally examined

2. Engineering Insurance – covers sudden and unforeseen damage to that equipment

   
   

Engineering Inspection

This is the first part of the cover, and it satisfies your legal requirement for inspection under various regulations.

LOLER

LOLER stands for the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations. This legislation covers any lifting equipment, including forklift trucks, cranes, vehicle lifting tables, and passenger lifts.

Different items of equipment have different inspection requirements. For example, passenger lifts require inspection every 6 months under LOLER, as do vehicle lifting tables. Goods lifts and cranes also fall under LOLER but only require inspection every 12 months.

PUWER

PUWER, the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations, covers all types of equipment and machinery — from production lines to escalators, and shutter doors to dump trucks — to ensure the safety of the people operating them.

PSSR

PSSR, or the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations, generally covers the requirements for pressure vessels, or anything that stores or conveys pressurised fluids (gas, steam, etc.) and contains stored energy.

Again, different types of equipment have different inspection requirements, ranging anywhere from 14 to 60 months depending on the item.

Other legislation

There are other regulations, such as COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health) and EAW (Electricity at Work), that may also apply to certain items of equipment.

Why Inspection Insurance Cover Matters

Having this type of cover for inspection:

• Ensures you have a completely independent inspection, separate from the company that services and maintains the equipment

• Helps you meet your legal duties, preventing enforcement action from the HSE, including fines and prosecution

• Reduces the risk of accidents

Every time an item is inspected, you receive a written report. This shows that you are meeting your legal requirements, and flags any actions that need to be taken, including any defects noted during the examination.

It's important that the inspection is not carried out by the same company that maintains and services the equipment, as this could lead to errors or conflicts of interest, and would not meet the legal requirement for the report to be independent.

Engineering Insurance

The other part of this cover is the insurance, which usually covers sudden and unforeseen damage to the equipment.

Examples of this would include:

• A safety valve fails, causing overpressure damage

• A power surge damages switchgear or electronics

• Someone drops an item or piece of furniture while moving it, damaging a panel inside a lift

  
  

Engineering & Inspection Insurance: In summary

'Engineering Inspection' cover can be purchased on its own, without the 'Engineering Insurance' element, which is one reason this side of the policy isn't always described as an "insurance product" as people expect. But it plays just as important a role.

Together, the two halves of this cover serve two different purposes: the inspection keeps you on the right side of the law by independently verifying your equipment is safe; at the same time, the insurance protects you financially if that equipment unexpectedly fails or is damaged. This is very important for ensuring the safe operation of your business while complying with legislation, and it gives you a known, predictable yearly cost to protect your staff and visitors and keep you legally compliant.

If you're unsure which items of equipment on your premises fall under LOLER, PUWER, or PSSR — or how often they need inspecting — it's worth raising this with your broker, who can help map your equipment to the right inspection schedule and make sure nothing slips through the cracks.