Secondary Professional Liability Insurance (SPLI) now in place for all Members who are Employees

By Oliver Bonham , P.Geo. Executive Director/Registrar

Effective April 1, 2005, all APGO members are covered for Secondary Professional Liability Insurance or “SPLI” as part of the national plan for engineers and geoscientists.

This opportunity arose after special requests to the CCPE (Canadian Council of Professional Engineers) were made by both the Ordre du Geologie du Quebec (OGQ) and APGO to include the “geoscience only” associations in the national SPLI plan that is administered by CCPE. A subsequent offer to join was made to them by CCPE in December 2004. APGO Council voted unanimously to include APGO and its members in the national plan.

SPLI provides secondary level professional liability insurance coverage to individual geoscientists working as employees and is designed to respond to claims by the general public against a geoscientist for professional services provided. SPLI does not provide coverage for firms, corporations, public entities or employers as these groups are expected to carry specific liability coverage as part of their business. It also does not cover the work of an individual who is a sole proprietor, independent consultant, owner or principal decision maker in a firm.

The plan is mandatory in that all APGO members are automatically covered under the plan. The premiums ($8.76 per member) are paid by the Association and come out of the annual membership dues at no additional cost to the member. The policy provides each member with $100,000 in secondary liability coverage, including defense costs, to protect him or her against claims.

A new area of the APGO website has been set up in the Professional Practice Section, to provide information and to explain the plan in more detail. A link to the master policy, the insurance certificate and a very comprehensive Question and Answer sheet is also provided. There is also contact information for the administrators of the plan at the foot of the Question and Answer sheet. If something is not clear after studying the information provided, please direct any questions that you may have about the plan and whether it may or may not apply in your particular circumstances, to the plan administrators.

To go to the website and view the SPLI information, click here

The national SPLI program evolved from coverage that has been mandatory for many years for OIQ (Professional Engineers of Quebec) members. In March 31, 2002, the Security Insurance Company of Hartford was taken on as underwriter and coverage was expanded to include a total of 9 participating engineering associations: APEGGA, NAPEGG, APEGS, APEGM, OIQ, APENS, APEGNB, APEPEI and APEGN, (and by affiliation their geoscientist members were captured under the program as well). A case was made by OGQ and APGO to be included in the plan in 2004 and we are delighted that the decision was made to allow these two “Geoscience Only” associations to become a part of the national plan.

SPLI is a very important new element of professional practice and is yet another benefit to the geoscientists that comes with licensure. Council is very proud of this achievement and has asked that all members spread the word about the availability of this new coverage, particularly among those geoscientists who have not yet addressed the issue of their professional licensure.

For more information on APGO, please contact info@apgo.net

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Field Notes is published by APGO and is edited by Wendy Diaz, P.Geo. If you have comments or wish to contribute material to this newsletter, please contact Wendy Diaz, P.Geo., Crystal Spekking, Northern Ontario Communications Officer or Oliver Bonham, P.Geo., Executive Director/Registar.

Copyright 2004, Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario (APGO)