Archive for month: February, 2023

It’s a building, so what’s the problem

It can’t get up and hurt someone, or can it?

When you take out property owners, in addition to the cover for the building, you get cover for your liabilities, for injury to people or damage to other people’s property.

Public liability covers members of the general public, including tenants, visitors and the like and employer’s liability takes care of people you employ, such as, gardeners, handymen and cleaners.

If someone were to trip up on a loose paving stone, or a stair carpet, then they may have a case against you for the injury sustained, private treatment and any loss of earnings. The total could run into tens of thousands of pounds.

The same applies to employees who are injured whilst doing work at your direction and would extend to and the provision of a safe working environment, PPE, scaffolding, cleaning and garden equipment.

Cover also includes damage done to property, for instance if tiles fell of a roof which had not been maintained properly and crashed down on a parked car, god forbid landing on a person.

Public liability cover is included, #becauseaccidentshappen to nice people all the time, whereas employer’s liability is optional, so check carefully.

More on loss of earnings tomorrow.

Types of Property

They just don’t know, but that’s exactly as it should be.

My job is highly technical, very detailed and requires a lot of thought and consideration for each client with whom we engage. Everything from health and safety, construction and security, to legal liability and international maritime law.

It is the variety of situations that has kept me interested for the last 40 years. Whilst the market place has changed, along with the systems that we use to deliver results for clients, my father who was an insurance representative and latterly a broker, could still pick up a policy wording and understand it. The basic covers haven’t changed much.

Do I expect my clients to understand all of this?

No, I don’t, and that is exactly how it should be. If they did, what would be the point of me?

I’m always happy to explain the detail, educating my clients so they can make informed buying decisions is key to what I do and the advice and guidance that I give.

All that I expect is that they engage with me, open up and tell me everything I need to know, to get the result we both want.

The correct technical solution at the lowest price available.

Its that simple!

Have a great weekend

Trust and insurance

So, what is and what is not covered?

The first concept to understand about insurance, is that it centres around specific events, called “Perils” such as:

• Fire
• Lightning
• Explosion
• Earthquake
• Aircraft
• Impact
• Riot and Civil Commotion
• Storm, Tempest or Flood
• Escae of water or oil from fixed equipment
• Collapse of aerials
• Theft or Attempted Theft
• Subsidence, Ground Heave or Landslip

Even where cover is give including “Other Accidental Damage” or even on an “All Risks Basis” there must be a specific event, leading directly to the damage or loss. This is called the proximate cause.

Cover never includes deterioration over time, because of a lack of maintenance. If your roof gets old and leaky, or an old boiler ceases to function, don’t expect the insurers to pay. It is your responsibility to keep the property in a good condition.

Likewise, any damage caused by a “gradually operating cause” is also excluded, for instance pollution damage over several years from the local steel works.

Fundamental exclusions applying to the whole policy will always include:

1. War
2. Radioactive Contamination
3. Sonic Bangs
4. Changes in the Water Table
5. Electronic Risks
6. Communicable diseases

Want some advice or guidance, give us a call on 029 20 470 375 or email nigel@severnbay.com

Simple statement

On your accountants, advice you’ve set up a limited company, but do you know the additional responsibilities and consequences of this action?

Well, you’ve just become a director, so it’s absolutely crucial that you check out the government website, as it’s a very serious responsibility with legal consequences.

In setting up a limited company you create a company with a separate legal identity from you as an individual and a by-product is that anyone working in the company, even the directors are employees of it.

Under the Employers Liability compulsory insurance ACT 1969, where there is more than one director, or any other employees or volunteers, unpaid or otherwise, Employers Liability cover must be in place, by law from the minute the company exists.

Penalties include fines of up to £2,500 per day or up to 6 months in jail. It is important to get the correct advice and the right cover in place, on day one.

If there aren’t any manual activities or physical labour, this can be done for a few hundred pounds by arranging a small “Office” policy, which automatically includes this cover along with many others.

If your business does include manual activity then the imperative is even more serious, as there is a real possibility of injury to employees!

Not sure, give us a call 029 20 470 375

Starting a Business

Occasionally when I meet a client to discuss continuity planning, I am met with a board who have another agenda, but it becomes clear quickly. I either get enthusiastic buy in from the board or just one director has been delegated to deal with it and the remainder can’t get out of the room quick enough.

In these cases, the organisation is often “ticking a box” for a regulator or a customer. They want a continuity plan, because they need to show it to someone else, but they aren’t really interested in its impact within the business and certainly don’t want to waste time, personnel or resources on it.

I will always try to get the organisation to understand why resilience is so important and what my part is in achieving a solid result, so that continuity becomes business as usual within that organisation.

If I can’t, then I will respectfully decline the opportunity, as I will end up doing a bad job, purely because the client doesn’t want to #justkeepgoing and that’s not good for my reputation.

The first step is always policy & programme management, and without enthusiastic buy in from the board, including a desire to achieve enhanced resilience and allocate appropriate resources to the task, the opportunity is lost on day one!

Have a great week.

Continuity Planning