- [Narrator] Professional indemnity and public liability insurance. 

- Why should you as an interpreter have professional indemnity insurance cover? 

- Well, if you make a mistake or omissions occur in your interpreting work that impacts a client financially, for example, if you unconsciously omit important information and a client makes a decision based on that information, not knowing the full consequences and loses money, then they can sue you for their loses. Or, if a client is injured do to an interpreting mistake, or an omission, they can take legal action against you for their injury and to recover any financial loss. 

- Professional indemnity insurance protects your assets and your reputation. It protects you from an actual breech or an alleged breech of your professional duty. You can't assume agencies cover you because some do not. You should always check with the agency you're working for. It's important to protect yourself and your professional reputation, as well as your assets. If you purchase professional indemnity and public liability insurance direct, you can expect to pay somewhere between $600 and $700.

- However, as an ASLIA member, you can purchase this insurance for around a third of the price. Deaf consumers, it's a really good idea to ask the interpreter if they have insurance cover. If an interpreter makes a mistake, or misses information that results in you making a financial loss or incurring an injury, you may need to take legal action to recover your expenses. As an example, and this is a real story, an interpreter on a relay call to emergency services made a mistake by giving the wrong address to the ambulance, and the person died. 

- The family sued the interpreter and the interpreter, fortunately, had professional indemnity insurance coverage. The court ruling was the family was to be paid three million dollars because of the error. 

- This professional indemnity insurance company paid the three million dollars, not the individual practitioner. Deaf people who book interpreters directly, for example, NDIS jobs or direct payment assignments, need to ask the interpreter to provide a certificate of currency. This paperwork shows the beginning and the end date of the insurance coverage for that interpreter. Deaf people can ask the interpreter each year if necessary, to update them when they renew their insurance cover. 

- That covers a little bit about professional indemnity insurance. Now public liability insurance, why is that necessary? Well, everyone should have public liability insurance. It protects a person or property if there's and injury or damage. For example, if an interpreter trips and puts their hand through the wall of a client's home, then the interpreter can claim public liability insurance for the repairs to the wall. You should have public liability insurance. 

- The ASLIA insurance includes both professional indemnity and public liability. 

- For deaf clients, if an interpreter, or any person visiting trips and hurts themselves in your home or on your property, they can sue you for their injury or for treatment expenses. Usually, your house insurance has public liability included as part of it. We need to protect ourselves and others, and insurance gives us this peace of mind. 

- It's important that for interpreters purchasing insurance, that you understand what the insurance covers, and what it doesn't cover, before you purchase the premium. The policy wording for the Aslia Group insurance is available to download from the insurance product in the Aslia shop on our website. If your situation doesn't exactly match what the policy says it covers, you can ask our insurer. Depending on your needs, they might apply a small increase in your premium.

- If you're not sure, and your situation is slightly different, please talk with our insurer so that you can get the cover that you need. It's important that you answer the Aslia questionnaire, that's part of the application for ASLIA group insurance, truthfully. If you don't, you may not be covered. 

- The ASLIA Group insurance policy covers you for claims arising during the period of the policy. It won't cover you for claims currently against you, or that you think might arise when you initially buy your insurance. 

- If you don't maintain your insurance, or buy runoff cover, then you won't be covered for claims arising during the period that you did not have any insurance cover. 

- To wrap-up, public liability is to cover property damage, or injuring another person, but it doesn't cover interpreters who might incur a work OHS injury. 

- Professional indemnity is to cover what mistakes or alleged miss-interpreting that's occurred during interpreting assignments. 

- For more information, please contact ASLIA on info@Aslia.com.au.