As an employing dental laboratory business, it would be a statutory requirement to hold Employers Liability insurance. It is widely known that this policy would protect your business if an employee/past employee (such as a Dental Technician) becomes ill or injured whilst in their workplace, or performing their employed duties.
In a well-run dental laboratory accidents can occur. Consideration should be applied to risks such as toxic risks (chemical and biological). Also, ‘physical’ concerns such as slips and trips.
There are about 230,000 people who work in biomedical sciences. Research carried out for HSE in 1994/5 estimated that infection rates are about 16 per 100 000 person years, with the majority of these being caused by Hazard Group 2 biological agents in diagnostic laboratories.
Health risks in laboratories (hse.gov.uk)
It is likely that a medical laboratory would have adequate insurance in place should they require defences relating to an Employers’ Liability claim.
However, as a business owner, have you considered Management Liability protection (also known as Directors and Officers insurance? Employers Liability insurance would not extend to cover the business or directors in the event of breaches of health and safety law.
Often when making risk transfer recommendations to a limited (entity) Laboratory we shall build this protection into a quoted insurance programme.
