A wrong result is a professional liability claim, not a property one.
Cover for research, clinical and diagnostic labs — errors in results, the equipment and samples that make the work possible, and the biological and chemical exposures on site.
Tell us the situation.
A licensed human replies the same business day — not an auto-responder, and not five producers calling at once. We shop it across our carriers and tell you if the policy you already have is the right one.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
What laboratory businesses actually need.
Professional liability
A wrong, delayed or misreported result, and the clinical decision made on it.
Without it — The core exposure of a diagnostic lab, and not covered by general liability.
Equipment breakdown and samples
Analysers, freezers and controlled environments, and what is stored inside them.
Without it — A freezer failure destroys material that cannot be repurchased.
Pollution and biological exposure
Release of chemical or biological material, and the clean-up that follows.
Without it — Property and liability policies both exclude pollution.
Cyber and patient data
Breach of results and identifiable health information.
Without it — A clinical lab holds exactly the data that makes a breach expensive.
Business income
Revenue while the lab cannot process, plus the cost of sending work elsewhere.
Without it — Accreditation and validation make a temporary site slow to stand up.
What laboratory operators ask us.
Is a wrong result a liability claim?
It is a PROFESSIONAL liability claim, which is the distinction that catches labs out. General liability answers bodily injury and property damage from your premises and operations — someone slipping in reception. A false negative that delayed a diagnosis is a failure of professional service causing harm, and it needs professional liability. Labs that carry only a general liability policy and a property policy are uninsured for the thing they are most likely to be sued over.
What is the sample exposure?
The value of stored material against the near-zero value a property policy assigns it. Specimens, cell lines, reference material and study samples frequently cannot be replaced at any price, and a standard form values them as ordinary contents or excludes them. It needs specific wording, a limit set deliberately, and — because insurers price the control not the value — monitoring that alerts a person out of hours.
Does accreditation change the price?
It changes the market more than the price. CLIA, CAP or ISO 17025 accreditation and a documented quality system tell an underwriter the errors have a system catching them, which is the whole professional liability question. Labs without it can still be placed, but with fewer insurers and more questions about proficiency testing, result verification and how a discrepant result is handled.
Not ready to talk? The guides answer the questions this page raises in more depth. Already insured with us and need a certificate or a policy change? Ask the service team rather than starting a quote — it is faster and it goes to the people whose job it is. We also write home and auto, which is usually cheaper alongside the business policy than apart from it.