CWI liabilities

By Dutch Date 07-06-2001 08:53

I'm just curious, but does anyone happen to know what the legal/liability limitation are for CWIs. I have only recently obtained my CWI and I honestly don't remember this being discussed very much in class.

I'm asking because in addition to my full-time job, I also run a small side bussiness and I was wondering if I should purchase some sort of liability insurance in case some day I "stamp off" on something and later some accident occurs and it could some way be tied to something I approved. Maybe I'm just being paranoied, but let's face it; we live in a sue-happy society.

If anyone can lend some insight on this, I would appreciate it.

Thanks.

By tasqmaster Date 07-09-2001 02:26

Dutch,
If you read your QC1 document on the code of ethics (chapter 8) for CWI's I believe it will answer your question on legal issues and as far as liability, your contractor is ultimately reasponsible. If you are self-employed, then you are reasponsible. So some liability insurance would be a safe bet.
I hope this clarifies any issues or concerns you may have.

By kmcquait (*)

Date 07-09-2001 14:31

I don't believe that liability insurance would cover the type of thing your talking about. You would require errors and ommissions insurance. This type of insurance is very expensive. $6 to $14k a year. Professional Engineers usually carry this type of insurance, because they are liable for the things they sign and stamp. That's why they are one of the most highly sued professions.

If you do your job correctly, there is no liability on your part. But, when something goes wrong, you never know who their going to implicate.

You may not be at fault, but, can you afford all of the legal fees that would be involved taking on a big corporation?

Then on the other hand, if you don't have the insurance, no lawyer on this planet is going to waste time even trying to get money out of you.

you can't get water from a dry well!

Good Luck!!

By pipewelder_1999 (****)

Date 07-09-2001 16:20

This is an area in which adequate record keeping can act as "Insurance".

Another way to protect yourself is to base all inspections on facts and codes. Any code items that are unclear need clarification prior to acceptance. If you get finished with a project and any outstanding issues exist I would recommend a signed paper report to be sent to the customer (or your employer) indicating any outstanding discrepancies.

I try to document every inspection,conversation, and related document in an inspection database. If at a later time I can view all information related to a customers order, shipping Item, Dwg, and Pc MK. If at a later time I need to know about any inspection for a given customer its a matter of a simple query in the database and all records related to my search information are available. The same concept works for paper except searching can become a little more difficult.

All information is useful and the person who shows the intent to correctly document all situations would probably have a slight advantage should a question regarding inspections,acceptance and possibly any ethics issues.

The "Dry Well" issue is a good point. I'd just hate to have anyone drill in mine to see if they could find any more water.

Have a good day,

Gerald Austin
Weldinginspectionsvcs.com