Professional Liability Insurance (PLI) Exceptions

Although the Professional Engineers Act requires entities that provide professional engineering services to the public to carry minimum levels of professional liability insurance (PLI), there is an exception and ACEC-Ontario endeavoured to bring light to this risk to the public.

We thank all ACEC-Ontario member companies and their employees for participating in this important matter. This campaign is now closed.
  
Regulations under the Act allow engineering entities to operate without PLI if they tell the client they are not insured and receive written consent from the client to carry out the work regardless. PLI is a risk transfer mechanism that protects the client and is part of the cost of doing business as an engineering company.
 
The public interest risk created by this exception is not small and the regulatory change to fix this problem is straightforward. In 2018, Professional Engineers Ontario reported that of the 5,673 entities authorized to provide engineering services to the public, 1,290 of them – more than 20% – were operating without PLI by relying on this exception. The risks of uninsured professional engineering services continue long after the work is completed and can impact the welfare of countless people across the province.

Campaign Outcome

Undergoing analysis.