>Front end web dev? Nah, who gives a shit. Embedded system that's fail deadly? Um, yes.

More likely that a frayed power cord (or one of a thousand other things) on your laptop will catch fire while you're on the client premise, causing thousands in damages, or that same laptop has some sort of trojan/virus that you spread through the client network, and you're on the hook for remediation.

IME, most of the time that's why an independent consultant needs business insurance. The quality of the work is generally handled by the contract.

But YMMV.

This scenario seems borderline Palsgraph v. Long Island Rail Road [1].

There is liability / duty of care / grounds to sue for negligence only when the injury / damages were directly related to the nature of the business, not when there is an incidental freak accident which happens to occur on the premise.

What does front end dev work have to do with the statistical random chance that wires somewhere in the building are frayed?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palsgraf_v._Long_Island_Railro....

General liability and Errors & Omissions[0] insurance are often required by various clients.

As I mentioned it could be a thousand different things that might trigger such liability.

I'm not telling you (or anyone else) what to do.

That said, I'm sure legal fees, if they become necessary, would be much less than insurance premiums. /s

[0] https://www.insureon.com/blog/common-consulting-business-ins...