Joe m recently posted a reply where he brought up the tort issue of training/evaluation and wrongful death. It is an issue that weighs upon all forklift trainers/evaluators. It is one of many potential liability problems that a trainer/evaluator must consider when it comes to obtaining insurance coverage for their business and business activities.

The Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF) requires all Registered Training Organizations (RTOs) (including those conducting forklift training) to have certain insurance coverage. To my knowledge, Australia is the only country that requires broad insurance coverage to become a registered training organization. The AQTF has published an eight page booklet on the subject of insurance and registered training organizations. Google: ADVICE ON INSURANCE FOR REGISTERED TRAINING ORGANIZATIONS for a pdf download.

Although the publication is targeted for Australia, it gives a good overview of some insurance concepts that apply universally. Use it as a basis to start reviewing your current policies and insurance coverage and to make a list of questions to ask your insurance carrier as well as competing insurance companies.

Many training companies in the U.S. and Canada list general liability insurance coverage in their advertising. Very few list professional liability coverage (errors and omissions). To my knowledge, general liability insurance does not protect from wrongful death lawsuits.

If you are employed as a trainer/evaluator for an employer, I recommend you check to see if the employer's current insurance coverage protects you for your training/evaluation activities. If not, I recommend you consider obtaining a personal "errors and omissions" policy to protect yourself and ask your employer to pay for it. If the employer is not willing, you may consider paying for it yourself.

Worker's compensation coverage excludes certain lawsuits. Certain types of negligence, however, can void the worker's compensation lawsuit protection. The definition of negligence may vary from state/province/territory/etc.

Joe m, thanks for bringing up the wrongful death issue. It is an issue that many trainers/evaluators are probably not ready to handle.

Forum readers: Are you adequately protected?