Glaziers carry the one material that punishes every mistake twice. Drop a pane and you have lost the glass, the labour and the schedule. Fit it badly and the loss arrives months later, in someone else’s building, with your name on the invoice. Glaziers insurance is the package that answers both of those, and the gap between a policy that responds and one that does not usually sits in wording most people never read.
The Highlights
- Employers liability is compulsory at a statutory minimum of £5 million per occurrence.
- Handling, lifting or carrying caused 17 per cent of reported workplace injuries in 2024/25.
- Products liability, not public liability, answers when a pane fails after you have left site.
- Standard policies routinely exclude glass in transit and damage to the item you are working on.
01 Why Glazing Is Rated Differently
Underwriters look at glazing and see three separate problems stacked on top of each other: a heavy object handled by people, a fragile object moved through occupied buildings, and a permanent installation that can fail long after the invoice is paid.
The injury data explains the first two. The Health and Safety Executive recorded 59,219 non fatal employee injuries under RIDDOR in 2024/25, while the Labour Force Survey put self reported workplace injuries at 680,000. Within the reported figures, handling, lifting or carrying accounted for 17 per cent, being struck by a moving object 10 per cent, and falls from a height 8 per cent. A glazier meets all three on an ordinary day.
Figures published by the Health and Safety Executive for 2024/25.
The third problem is the one that catches firms out financially. A scaffolder takes their structure away. A glazier leaves the work behind, fixed into somebody’s building, where it stays until it fails. That is why products liability matters more in this trade than in almost any other.
02 The Legal Duties Sitting Under Your Cover
Insurers assume you already meet the statutory duties. Two of them shape glazing work directly, and a third decides the insurance itself.
The first governs what you fit and where. The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 require that glazing in critical positions is either safe by material or protected, and that people can see it is there.
“Every window or other transparent or translucent surface in a wall or partition and every transparent or translucent surface in a door or gate shall, where necessary for reasons of health or safety, be of safety material or be protected against breakage of the transparent or translucent material; and be appropriately marked or incorporate features so as, in either case, to make it apparent.”
Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, regulation 14
The second governs how your team moves it. The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 put avoidance first, before any discussion of technique or training.
“avoid the need for his employees to undertake any manual handling operations at work which involve a risk of their being injured”
Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, regulation 4
The third is the insurance. Under the Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Regulations 1998 an employer must hold cover of not less than £5 million arising out of any one occurrence. In practice the glazing market is written at £10 million, because that is what commercial clients and main contractors specify.
Fitting to the wrong specification is a products claim, not a workmanship one. If annealed glass goes into a critical location that required toughened or laminated, the loss surfaces when someone walks into it. Keep the specification, the order and the delivery note together for every job.
03 What Glaziers Insurance Actually Includes
Glaziers insurance is assembled from parts, and the parts you leave out are the ones that hurt. These are the sections that matter in this trade.
Employers liability
Public liability
Products liability
Glass in transit
Damage to the property worked on
Tools, plant and vehicles
Two exclusions define this trade. Glass in transit and damage to the property being worked upon are excluded far more often than glaziers expect. Ask for both in writing, and check the sub limit rather than assuming the main limit applies.
04 Choosing Your Public Liability Limit
Public liability is what clients ask to see. The right limit depends on where you work and who lets you on site, not on the size of your firm.
£2 Million
Domestic replacement work, ground floor windows and jobs away from busy public areas.
- Sole traders and small teams
- Domestic clients and small builders
- Rarely enough for commercial sites
£5 Million
The level most main contractors and commercial clients set as their minimum requirement.
- Shopfronts and commercial glazing
- Work above pavements and entrances
- Accepted by most principal contractors
£10 Million
Required for local authority, education, healthcare, rail and most framework agreements.
- Public sector and framework contracts
- Curtain walling and high level glazing
- Usually paired with £10 million employers liability
Check the products liability limit separately. It is often shared with public liability rather than sitting on top of it. If a batch of units fails across an estate, a shared limit disappears quickly.
05 The Questions Underwriters Will Ask
Glazing is underwritten on the detail of what you fit and how high you fit it. Gather this before you approach the market.
- Working height: the highest level you glaze, and whether you use towers, scaffolds, cradles or mobile platforms to reach it.
- Type of work: the split between domestic replacement, shopfronts, commercial curtain walling and structural glazing.
- Pane size and weight: the largest unit you handle, and whether you use mechanical lifting for it.
- Registration: whether you are registered with a competent person scheme such as FENSA or CERTASS, and whether you hold GGF membership.
- Hot works: any cutting, welding or heat use on site, which carries its own conditions and often a separate warranty.
- Subcontractors: how much you sublet, and whether you check their cover before they start.
- Claims history: five years of experience, including incidents notified but never paid.
Hot works warranties are strict. Where a policy carries one, it usually requires the area to be cleared, an extinguisher to hand and a fire watch for a set period afterwards. Miss the fire watch and a fire claim can fail outright.
06 Where Glaziers Get Caught Out
Declined glazing claims cluster around a short list of causes, and every one of them is avoidable.
| What happens | Why the claim fails |
| A large pane breaks on the way to site | Glass in transit was never added to the policy |
| The frame or sill is damaged during installation | Damage to property being worked upon is excluded |
| Units fail across a whole development | Products liability shares the public liability limit |
| Someone walks through glass fitted in a critical location | Wrong specification supplied, so it becomes a products claim |
| Fire after cutting or heat work | Hot works warranty conditions were not met |
| Fitter injured lifting a unit alone | Manual handling assessment cannot be evidenced |
07 What Moves Your Premium
Two glazing firms with the same turnover can be quoted very differently. These are the factors behind the gap.
- Working height: ground floor domestic work rates very differently from curtain walling at fourth floor and above.
- Sector: domestic replacement is the softest, while structural glazing, listed buildings and rail are the hardest.
- Products exposure: whether you manufacture or only install, since manufacturing raises the products rating sharply.
- Wage roll: employers liability is rated on payroll, so declarations need to be accurate at renewal as well as inception.
- Accreditation: FENSA or CERTASS registration, GGF membership and CSCS cards all improve terms.
- Claims record: a run of small breakage claims often costs you more at renewal than one large loss.
Say clearly whether you manufacture. Cutting, toughening or assembling units puts you in a different products rating from a firm that only fits what a supplier delivers. Describing yourself as an installer when you also fabricate is the kind of misdescription that voids cover.
08 Arranging Cover With Nova Insurance
We arrange tradesman liability insurance for glazing firms across the UK, and we know where this trade differs from the rest. That means getting glass in transit and damage to property worked upon written in rather than assumed, checking whether products liability sits inside or on top of your public liability insurance limit, and making sure your working height and manufacturing activity are described the way you actually operate.
If you are reviewing your current arrangements, moving into commercial work, or buying glaziers insurance for the first time, speak to our team and we will work through it with you.
The Short Version
- Employers liability is compulsory at a statutory minimum of £5 million, though the glazing market is written at £10 million.
- Handling, lifting or carrying caused 17 per cent of reported workplace injuries in 2024/25, which is why fitters are rated as they are.
- Products liability is the section that answers after you leave site, and it is often shared with your public liability limit.
- Glass in transit and damage to the property being worked upon are excluded far more often than glaziers expect.
- Keep the specification, the delivery note and the manual handling assessment on file for every job.
Cover written around glass, not around general building work
Speak to a broker who understands products liability, glass in transit, hot works warranties and where a standard tradesman policy leaves you exposed.
Nova Insurance has been proudly serving clients across the UK since 1995. This article is general information and not legal or regulatory advice. Cover varies between insurers, so always read the policy wording and speak to your broker about your own circumstances. Health and safety figures quoted are 2024/25 statistics published by the Health and Safety Executive.