What Personal Trainer Insurance Do I Need?

Whether you’re already a PT or are thinking of becoming one, personal trainer insurance is essential. But with so many different providers and policies out there, it can be hard to know where to start!

That’s why we’ve compiled the ultimate guide to personal training insurance in Ireland, covering:

• Do You Need Insurance to be a Personal Trainer?
• The Basic Personal Training Insurance Every PT Needs
• Additional Personal Training Business Insurance You Should Have
• Insurance for Working With Special Populations
• Do Personal Trainers Need Employers Liability Insurance
• Personal Training Insurance Compared

Before we begin, why not expand the services your personal trainer business offers, starting with our Level 5 Sports Nutrition Course. Browse the full range of fitness courses we offer by downloading our free prospectus here and get in touch with our team today!

Do You Need Insurance to be a Personal Trainer?

We’ll start this article off by stating if you choose to become a personal trainer, you’ll absolutely need insurance! 

Whether you’re working as a freelance personal trainer, have your own personal training business, or are employed as a PT by a gym, being insured is a legal requirement.

Being a personal trainer is just like any other profession - things can go wrong! Accidents and injuries can happen at any time, even if you’ve been in the industry for years.

You may now be questioning ‘what insurance does a personal trainer need?’. Well, you should ensure you’re covered for the following scenarios:

Injury or illness to your clients - Personal trainer insurance protects you in the event that a client makes a claim against you, such as:

• Injury
• Illness
• Harassment
• Professional negligence

If any of these things happen under your supervision during a session, they may claim compensation against you. Having personal training insurance will protect you from having to pay legal fines!

Personal injury or illness -  Personal trainer insurance can also protect you in the event of an injury or illness. It will cover you financially if you’re unable to work or pay for treatment or healthcare. Without the right personal trainer coverage, you could find yourself in a difficult financial situation.

Coverage for your employees - If you have your own personal training business and employ staff, having personal trainer business insurance will cover you in the event they’re injured or fall ill while working for you.

Your equipment and property. As well as you and your clients, personal trainer insurance can also cover your equipment in the case of damage, theft and loss. This can also extend to cover any property you own as part of your PT business, such as a studio or gym.

As well as the financial and legal reasons, getting personal trainer insurance will also give you confidence and peace of mind that you, your clients, and your employees are protected. 

Now you know it's a necessity, you shouldn’t be asking if you need insurance, you should be asking ‘what insurance do personal trainers need?’ 

With this in mind, there are 2 main types of insurance that you are legally required to obtain in order to work as a personal trainer:

• Personal trainer public liability insurance
• Personal trainer professional indemnity insurance

There are also additional types of insurance we would recommend getting, such as:

• Personal accident insurance
• Loss of earnings insurance
• Equipment insurance
• Insurance for working with special populations

We’ll answer these four questions in our next section to help give you a better understanding of why insurance is a necessity:

• What insurance does a personal trainer need to work in a gym?
• Does a personal trainer need insurance to teach group fitness classes?
• What insurance do I need as a personal trainer if I work online?

Do You Need Personal Trainer Insurance If You Work in a Gym?

Newly qualified individuals often ask ‘what insurance does a personal trainer need to work in a gym?’. It’s easy to see why so much confusion surrounds this topic, as many incorrectly assume that an employer will put you on their own insurance plan, but that’s not always the case.

In fact, we’d actually discourage PTs from relying on this possibility and would stress getting an insurance plan of your own. This is further backed up by REPS Ireland, who argue:

This is particularly important if you’re hired as a freelancer, as gym-based employers likely won’t put you under any insurance plan in this instance. 

In fact, many gyms will even specify the need for your own personal trainer insurance in the job description, such as the advert below for a personal trainer and group fitness instructor:

With this in mind, you should always take out insurance as a personal trainer, even if you’re employed by a gym!

Do You Need Personal Training Insurance to Teach Group Fitness Classes?

For those wondering ‘do personal trainers need insurance to teach group fitness classes’, the answer is yes!

Just like when you’re training clients one-on-one, accidents and injuries can happen. However, you will just need to make sure your policy covers you specifically for teaching group classes! 

Most personal trainer insurance plans will cover the majority of mainstream branded fitness classes, including:

• Zumba
• Spin
• Les Mills

We’d advise you to look at the provider's terms and conditions prior to signing up, this will give you an idea of what classes are included in the insurance plan. 

If we use an example such as Protectivity and their personal trainer business insurance, you can see the types of activities their policy covers, under the FAQ section of their website:

Plus, many gyms may require you already have your own personal trainer insurance coverage to teach exercise classes for them, such as this job advert below for EMF Lifting and Laughing:

This means purchasing your own personal training insurance is not only important to protect you and your students, but may also be required when applying for jobs.

Do You Need Online Personal Trainer Insurance?

Many people have asked ‘what insurance do I need as a personal trainer if I work online?’, believing that it’s not a necessity as they are not training clients in-person.

What makes this question a little more challenging to answer, is that many providers of personal training insurance in Ireland are vague about whether or not they offer these services. 

Let’s discuss why it’s important to cover yourself when working virtually with clients. When operating as an online personal trainer, you may choose to sell virtual bespoke workout programmes or pre-recorded exercise videos, similar to Donna Dunne Fitness:

As clients are following a workout programme without you present, they may injure themselves performing exercises without your in-person guidance.

If they injure themselves during one of these sessions, they could then make a claim against you that their injury is a result of your advice. However, with the right online personal trainer insurance, you would be covered in a case like this.

That said, with the rise in popularity of online personal training, some insurance companies do now cover online work in their policies, such as Brian Mullins:

However, be sure to check the policy in detail of each provider to see exactly what is covered when it comes to their online personal training insurance.

The Basic Personal Training Insurance Every PT Needs

As mentioned earlier in the article, there are two types of personal trainer insurance which are legal requirements, let’s discuss these policies in greater detail. 

Personal Trainer Public Liability Insurance Explained

The first and most important type of coverage you’ll need is personal trainer public liability insurance. This is the minimum legal requirement needed to operate as a PT.

You may also see it called ‘personal trainer liability insurance’ or ‘professional liability insurance for personal trainers’.

This essentially covers you as a personal trainer for claims made against you, such as:

• Injury to a client under your supervision
• Damage to equipment owned by the gym you’re operating in
• Equipment failure resulting in injury to the client

Having personal trainer public liability insurance covers the cost of replacing or fixing equipment, or legal costs if a client makes a claim against you.

An example scenario: You’re training a client in a gym and your client uses a squat machine incorrectly, causing the barbell to fall on them and injure them. The client then makes a compensation claim against you as the injury occurred when they were under your supervision.

While it’s certainly part of your role as a personal trainer to make sure your clients perform exercises correctly and safely, sometimes accidents do occur that aren’t your fault.

In this case, without public liability insurance, you would be liable to pay out the cost of the claim from your own pocket. However, if you have public liability insurance, you will be covered for an event like this.

This example from Public Liability gives you an idea of how much coverage is offered for fitness professionals and how much it may cost depending on what you’re looking for:

It’s crucial you purchase public liability insurance for personal trainers. While we hope no situations arise when you will have to use this, it’s important you have it to cover yourself in the unlikely occasion something does happen.

Personal Trainer Professional Indemnity Insurance Explained

The next type of insurance you legally need is personal trainer professional indemnity insurance.

Where public liability insurance covers you for claims to do with physical incidents that cause injury, this covers you if a client feels you’ve given them incorrect or bad advice which has caused them injury or illness. 

Since a huge part of being a personal trainer is to advise and guide clients, this is an essential type of personal trainer business insurance to have!

​​Some examples of the kinds of claims a client could make against a personal trainer are:

• Incorrect guidance on how to perform an exercise.
• A client doesn’t achieve their goals based on advice you’ve given them.
• Inaccurate nutritional advice that has led to illness or health problems.

This example from BizBroker highlights the amount of financial protection you can receive to cover legal fees and defence costs, showing why it’s so important you take out personal trainer insurance in Ireland:

Just like accidents and injuries, you may like to think you would never give inaccurate advice to your clients. However, even the most experienced of personal trainers can make mistakes and have claims made against them.

Having professional indemnity insurance as a personal trainer will give you peace of mind that you will be covered should anything happen to a client based on advice you’ve given them.

Additional Personal Training Business Insurance You Should Have

Aside from professional indemnity and public liability insurance for personal trainers, there are other types of insurance we’d strongly recommend. Although they aren’t required by law, they are hugely beneficial.

Personal Accident Insurance for Personal Trainers

As well as covering your clients, don’t forget you can get ill or injured too! This is where personal accident insurance comes in. This insurance for personal trainers covers you in the event you’re injured or fall ill while working.

This could be anything from a minor injury to more serious accidents that cause long term or even permanent damage. Personal accident insurance will cover the cost of your injury treatment and rehabilitation, both short and long-term.

Brady Insurance stresses that fitness professionals need personal accident insurance:

The reason for this is you could be demonstrating to a client how to sprint on a treadmill and accidentally fall off, spraining your ankle. Your doctor has advised you’ll need physiotherapy for your ankle for several months, presenting you with an additional long-term cost to account for.

Even the most experienced personal trainers can have accidents, so this type of personal trainer insurance is definitely worth getting if you want financial security.

If you have personal accident insurance, most policies will cover the cost of your physiotherapy. It can also cover things like medication or short-term injury treatments such as operations.

Loss of Earnings Insurance for Personal Trainers

If you’re injured while working as a personal trainer, you may have no choice but to stop working so you can properly recover.

​​This can have a serious financial impact as you would have to cancel several weeks worth of clients, meaning you’re unable to earn money. However, to cover yourself in this situation, you can purchase loss of earnings or income protection insurance.

Where personal accident insurance covers the cost of your injury treatment and rehabilitation, loss of earnings insurance covers your expenses until you’re well enough to start working again. 

For example, say you have a serious accident in the gym, such as a heavy weight falling on you and breaking your foot. You are told by your doctor you cannot walk on it for several weeks and that you should rest at home.

Without personal accident insurance, this could have a serious financial impact, as you would have to cancel several weeks worth of clients. You may also have to continue paying costs such as gym rent, despite not earning any money during this time.

Most income protection insurance for personal trainers will help cover these costs and pay you an income, meaning you have some financial security until you can return to work.

For example, Irish Life provides an overview of what their income protection involves:

This policy provides personal trainers with financial security as they receive a regular income if they can’t work during their recovery period.

Equipment Insurance for Personal Trainers

As well as yourself and your clients, you should also think about protecting your equipment. Equipment insurance for personal trainers covers you in the case of your equipment being lost, stolen, or damaged.

‘Equipment’ doesn’t just mean weights and exercise mats. This can be anything you use to work as a personal trainer, such as a laptop or other electronic devices.

While most personal trainers will own some kind of equipment, this type of personal trainer insurance is particularly useful if you are:

• A mobile personal trainer and take your own equipment to a clients home. If you’re a mobile personal trainer, you’ll probably have invested a lot of money into your equipment. In the event it’s stolen (from your home, storage unit, or car), equipment insurance will help cover the costs of replacing it.
• You run outdoor bootcamp or fitness classes outside. If you run a bootcamp or fitness class outside, your whole business relies on having your own equipment - without it, you cannot operate. In the event it’s stolen or damaged, equipment insurance will cover the cost of replacing it.
• Own your gym or other space. If you’re a gym owner or just own a small space where you run your sessions from, you will have a lot of expensive equipment that would have a huge financial impact if it were stolen or damaged.

The terms of personal trainer equipment insurance will vary between providers. Some may not offer it while others may give you the choice to include it as part of a package such as BizBroker:

Insurance for Working With Special Populations

If you’re a PT for clients that fall under the category of ‘special populations’, you should make sure your personal trainer insurance policy covers you completely. 

Some examples of what we mean by special populations are:

• Disabled clients
• Older clients
• Overweight clients
• Clients with health conditions such as diabetes 
• Pregnant clients
• Children 

Many of the main insurance providers don’t explicitly state their policy regarding special populations on their website.

As highlighted on Paddy Compare, training certain groups may lead to higher personal trainer insurance costs rather than a lower price for general personal training:

In most cases, you will have to ask the PT insurance provider whether they cover your specific needs when you enquire or get a quote.

Do Personal Trainers Need Employers Liability Insurance?

Although employers liability insurance isn’t mandatory in Ireland, you should still see it as a necessity if you’re employing other people. This insurance for personal trainers covers legal liability for accidental injury sustained by employees while performing their roles.

Most employer’s liability insurance policies cover:

• Full-time staff
• Part-time staff
• Temporary staff
• Apprentices
• Voluntary staff
• Contractors 
• Former employees

For example, say you have set up your own gym and hired a receptionist to manage your bookings. If they injure themselves, whether it’s a serious injury or simply slipping on a wet floor, they could make a claim against you, deeming you responsible since you are their employer.

Without employer’s liability insurance, you would be liable to pay the compensation and legal fees to your employee out of your own pocket! However, if you have employer’s liability insurance, you’ll be covered in an event like this.

Personal Training Insurance Compared

As there are many different factors which influence personal trainer insurance costs, we can’t provide a solid answer for those asking: how much is insurance for a personal trainer? However, we can help give you an idea of how to decide on the best PT insurance for you.

Factors influencing personal training insurance cost and quality include:

• Excess fees due to claims
• Nature of your business
• Payment methods
• Policy length
• Interest

When settling on PT insurance in Ireland, you should weigh up all of these factors so you can be sure you’re not only getting something for the right price but also a policy which will cover exactly what you need:

• If you make a claim. The main thing that will cause your personal trainer insurance cost to go up is if you make a claim. Most insurance companies will charge an ‘excess’ fee for making a claim. However, this is then refunded to you if your claim is successful, such as if you’re found not to be at fault. 
• The nature of your PT business. Another major factor that could affect the costs of your insurance is who you’re training. This kind of information is usually found in the smallprint of your policy contract or under an FAQs section of the insurance company’s website.
• Payment method. Some companies will allow you to spread the cost of your policy over several months, whereas others may want you to pay upfront. If you have the financial means to do so, paying upfront is usually a cheaper option. 
• The policy length. Typical personal trainer insurance policies range anywhere between 6-24 months in duration. In general, the longer the contract you commit to, the lower the rate will be. If you’re planning on working in the fitness industry for a while and are looking for cheap personal trainer insurance, it might be best to choose a longer policy length!
• Interest rates. If you choose to pay your personal trainer insurance costs monthly, you should read the small print of your policy to check whether they charge interest. 

Although you may also be looking for the cheapest personal trainer insurance, this doesn't mean it will be the best option in the long run. 

While one provider may have a lower excess fee, the total overall price may be higher. Similarly, a personal trainer insurance provider may have higher excess fees but their overall price is likely lower.

Some providers will state their prices and the amount of cover you can receive on their website. Others will only provide this if you contact them for a quote and register your interest. 

For example, BizBroker states their premium prices start from €230 but don’t state how much cover this provides unless you get a quote from them. However, Public Liability includes premium prices and the limit of liability this will cover such as €195 will provide a liability limit of €4,000,000.

This gives you a good indication of what you’ll be paying and receiving before feeling like you need to commit to something by giving a provider your contact details to get a quote.

Before You Go!

If you started this article wondering ‘Do you need insurance to be a personal trainer?’, you'll now have your answer. Remember, don't purchase the first policy you see, instead, compare providers to get the most value for your money! 

Continue growing the services you offer as a PT with one of our Advanced Level 5 Personal Trainer courses, here you can gain new and additional skills that will benefit both your business and the livelihood of your clients. 

Find out more by getting in touch with our team today or check out the full range of courses we offer by downloading our free course prospectus here.