If you are in business, you are taking on responsibility and are exposed to risk. 

• You can choose to ignore the risk; 
• You can assess that the level of risk in relation to the work you are doing; 
• You may assess that your risks can be covered by the resources at your disposal; 
• You can (at a cost) pass that risk onto insurers in whole or part. 

What you cannot do is assume that the risks magically evaporate, that others will ignore the consequences of your failures, or that events outside your control won’t affect you.

Yes, you can contract out of a risk, but that will not prevent a claim being brought in tort, by either your client or others with whom you had no contract. 

If it is a residential project, you cannot limit the liability (Consumer Guarantee’s Act). 

Alas, risks are not necessarily proportional to the value of the work being done, nor its complexity. 

Even proving “innocence” comes at a cost.

In short, the risks in being self-insured (“going bare”) are that your assets and reputation are at risk.