Who would be liable?

[R1 Indy]

Little one from something that came up this morning:

Doing some commercial work as a contractor.

They hired a scissor lift for me, just before I started, HR got concerned regarding liability if an accident occurred.

So:

1. If I had an accident which was my fault that caused damage/hurt someone else, who's insurance would it come under?

2. If I had an accident which was through a fault with the machine, who's insurance would it come under?

In my mind, number one would come from my insurance, number two the hiring companies insurance?

We agreed in the end that I wouldn't have an accident, but wondering what the correct answer is?

[kazste]

Im not going to be able to help too much as other people deal with these issues for me but this is what we do.

We would only use the scissor lift if it has a valid safety certificate, and customers would be made aware that the use would only be after a risk assessment by staff using the lift.

I would assume that we would be liable due to the self risk assessment.

Hope someone comes along with a bit more knowledge soon.

[GuinnessMK]

The question of liability has cropped up time and again on site, and the answer tends to come down to each contractor hires in and operates their own kit. It's not the cheapest route to delivering jobs, but saves on everyone proving their insurance to everyone else, when they already have to submit site specific RAMS, CSCS cards, IPAF certs, LOLER certs and insurance details to the main contractor.