Insurance and accreditations.

Public liability: £5 million is the usual minimum for work in a hotel, and many hotel groups ask for £10 million.

 

Employers' liability: required by law, and normally written at £10 million.

 

Contract works cover: protects the work in progress until it is handed over.

 

Professional indemnity: needed where a contractor gives design advice.

 

Accreditations to look for: a health and safety pre-qualification under the SSIP scheme, such as CHAS, SafeContractor or Constructionline; CSCS cards for everyone on site; and third-party certification, such as BM TRADA Q-Mark or FIRAS, for anyone installing or repairing fire doors.

 

Before any work starts, we send you copies of our current insurance certificates and the accreditations we hold, with their numbers. Ask for them at any stage. How we run a safe site is set out on our health, safety and environment page.