| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Poll: Do you have professional indemnity insurance? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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| Disadvantage of having PI insurance | Sep 24, 2012 |
Another take on this could be that once you have PI insurance, you are then worth suing! Without it, it becomes much tougher. It is in fact generally asked for by agencies. Maybe agencies are increasingly scared of being sued and would like to be able to pass the buck. Indeed, although I have it, I have only ever been asked for it by agencies. I do about one agency job every five years.
| | | | Henry Hinds 
United States
Local time: 17:39
English to Spanish
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In memoriam | Not necessary | Sep 24, 2012 |
From what I have seen, professional indemnity insurance is not necessary. For may years now, every time the subject arises, I ask if anyone knows of some specific case in which a translator has been held to be professionally liable. So far I have yet to receive a positive answer.
I'll ask again: Does anyone know of some specific case in which a translator has been held to be professionally liable?
| | | | Miriam Neidhardt (X)
Germany
Local time: 01:39
English to German
| @michael harris | Sep 24, 2012 |
Sure you can. It's called Vermögensschadenshaftpflichtversicherung, available from about 80 Euros a year, depending on your turnover and whether you are a BDÜ member. I would never translate a single word without it! Every professional should have such an insurrance.
Miriam
www.ueberleben-als-uebersetzer.de
| | | | | Vermögensschadenshaftpflichtversicherung | Sep 24, 2012 |
Which is why a rate per source word for translators working from German is utterly irrelevant. Thank you Miriam for this übernifty five-in-one (or so I think) of 40 characters.
I don't have such insurance, but I know I should. And then I forget.
Without being registered as a company, you can potentially lose everything up to your underwear if you skipped a word or mistook amber for orange.
There may not be any precedent so far, but as people can now hold applian... See more Which is why a rate per source word for translators working from German is utterly irrelevant. Thank you Miriam for this übernifty five-in-one (or so I think) of 40 characters.
I don't have such insurance, but I know I should. And then I forget.
Without being registered as a company, you can potentially lose everything up to your underwear if you skipped a word or mistook amber for orange.
There may not be any precedent so far, but as people can now hold appliance makers liable for the death of their pets or children, there will be one day.
Frightening thought indeed.
Philippe ▲ Collapse
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Tatty
Local time: 01:39
Spanish to English
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| Ok, here goes... | Sep 24, 2012 |
I am not a lawyer but I find it hard to believe that our liability is limited to the price of the translation. Why should it be? Naturally, you can limit your liability to the price of the contract if you negotiate this as a term of your contract. You may have to restate this condition each time you take on a translation for the agency in question, as it isn't an industry standard. If some dies or is injured the limitation of liability clause will disapply.
If you haven't negotiated... See more I am not a lawyer but I find it hard to believe that our liability is limited to the price of the translation. Why should it be? Naturally, you can limit your liability to the price of the contract if you negotiate this as a term of your contract. You may have to restate this condition each time you take on a translation for the agency in question, as it isn't an industry standard. If some dies or is injured the limitation of liability clause will disapply.
If you haven't negotiated a limitation of liability clause, the liability you attract will depend on the standard or sub-standardness of your work. In England, the standard is low; your work only has to be of mediocre quality. This is because "buyer beware" is the underlying principle. The standard is higher elsewhere, such as in France where your work has to reach the standard of that of a skilled translator. What's more, the ease with which a translator can get professional insurance would probably be taken into account, as well as your resources in relation to the other party. The fact that it only costs 50 quid would probably work against you.
Here in Spain, the right to compensation for any damage or loss incurred is enshrined in the Constitution. As such, I don't know if you could negotiate your way out of it. Even if you could, I don't know if the buck would stop with the agency. The agency may well be deemed to be an "editor". Since, to what extent is it really possible to "check" a translation? There is no known caselaw in this area, so the answer will probably remain a mystery for the time being. Unless anyone has any other information... ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Insurance isn't expensive - presumably because claims are so few | Sep 25, 2012 |
I have always been sceptical of professional indemnity insurance, never having heard of a translator needing it, though several translators have told me they have it to be "professional".
I put a standard statement in my quotes saying my liability is limited to the sum paid for the translation. Only one agency has asked me to sign a contract accepting unlimited liability, though they said this was a formality (which means nothing - if it's in a contract, it's binding). As that agenc... See more I have always been sceptical of professional indemnity insurance, never having heard of a translator needing it, though several translators have told me they have it to be "professional".
I put a standard statement in my quotes saying my liability is limited to the sum paid for the translation. Only one agency has asked me to sign a contract accepting unlimited liability, though they said this was a formality (which means nothing - if it's in a contract, it's binding). As that agency has the toughest internal checking system I have come across, I doubt it could blame the original translator if its own system failed.
The Chartered Institute of Linguists arranges insurance offers for members and claimed recently in a promotion that a member had made a significant saving through insurance.
I queried this as I have never heard of any translator making use of their insurance. In the response, no details were given, other than an assurance it was genuine and the person cited wanted to remain anonymous. I was also told an increasing number of members are taking up insurance.
I've operated for years without insurance and never had any need for it.
However, where insurance may be worthwhile is if working for direct clients, where they could suffer a loss for an error. If someone prints thousands of copies of a leaflet with an error despite my best efforts at checking and flagging ambiguities, how fair is it to say "buyer beware"?
It was this thinking that led me to take out insurance this year. It wasn't expensive (less than I earn in a day's translating, though the US is exempt). Professional Indemnity Insurance is a legitimate business expense in the UK, reducing taxable income. Indeed, having just completed my tax return for last year, I noticed there is specific space for it on the expenses form.
I'm still not convinced it is "professional" to have insurance and it would be a problem if it led to complacency. A potentially large area of risk is mistranslations in contracts or tender documents and I'd suggest it is unwise to take on such work without the ability to ensure a good job is done.
Not making errors is professional. Flagging up possible ambiguities in the source text and providing a glossary to explain translation choices is professional.
How insurance would work in practice is open to question. Though at least that is a question for the insurer's lawyers to grapple with should the situation ever arise.
I could just be putting money into the pockets of the insurance company for no real benefit. However, another way of looking at it is the insurance is presumably so affordable because claims are so rare.
[Does the fact I've had to edit this message prove I check my work carefully, or that everyone is fallible?]
[Edited at 2012-09-25 06:02 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tatty
Local time: 01:39
Spanish to English
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| Small addition | Sep 25, 2012 |
The problem is the extent to which the agency is responsible for the work it sends out to its client - the end client for us. If you hold yourself out as an expert in any given field, you will attract greater liability. This is because it is harder for an agency to "check" a specialised text.
This also depends on how common/rare the relevant language combination is. If I perform a translation into English for an agency based in England, the agency is in a better position than a fore... See more The problem is the extent to which the agency is responsible for the work it sends out to its client - the end client for us. If you hold yourself out as an expert in any given field, you will attract greater liability. This is because it is harder for an agency to "check" a specialised text.
This also depends on how common/rare the relevant language combination is. If I perform a translation into English for an agency based in England, the agency is in a better position than a foreign-based agency to "check" the translation. Or if the end client is an English company. This would be relevant in the misprint scenario.
However, if I perform a translation into English for a Spanish agency which then passes it on to a company based in Spain, my liability for misprints would be greater.
Buyer beware has nothing to do with the misprint scenario, it has to do with the choice of translator.
My liability will also be dependent on my knowledge. If I know the translation is to be printed out as a leaflet, then my liability will be much greater than if I don't.
I don't work with insurance, but I do keep meaning to get it. But I do print out all my translations to make sure that no misprints have crept in. It is perfectly possible to deliver an error free translation, but the checking is time-consuming and it will affect your bottom line. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tatty
Local time: 01:39
Spanish to English
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€266 I was quoted by Mapfre a couple of year ago now. That covers the whole of Spain.
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Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 00:39
Member (2007)
English
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| Overseas clients? | Oct 14, 2012 |
Tatty wrote:
€266 I was quoted by Mapfre a couple of year ago now. That covers the whole of Spain.
I've been translating for six years now and I've never had a Spanish client (agency or direct) and it's quite likely I never will, even though I live in Spain now. Certainly in my case, it would have to be world-wide cover to be worth anything at all.
| | | | veratek
Brazil
Local time: 21:39
French to English
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| insurers in France? (auto-entrepreneur) | Nov 21, 2012 |
I took a quick look on the Web and saw a bunch of insurers, with what seems to be widely different rates.
Can anyone recommend a couple of professional insurance companies for auto-entrepreneur status?
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