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Frustrated Customer

WWW the widest choice in the world, or is it?

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When people start a business, they simply don’t know what is required and if it’s a very simple start-up, they often just go straight to the internet and start filling in online requests!

WHY?

Because they believe its where they will get the widest choice and the most competitive premium.

The problem with this is they assume that what they ask for is what they are going to get and that is not always the case!

Going online for complex financial services is simply like walking into a supermarket.

What you see on the shelves is what is available. There might be much better options on quality and price, but you will never see them.

In some cases, there is only one product and because it’s the only one they have, that is what will be put in front of you. Suitable or not!

  • No advice
  • No guidance
  • No knowledge to make an informed decision
  • No professional selection

A professional broker will give you all of these and make sure the solution is tailored to your needs, #becauseaccidentshappen to nice people all the time.

What’s more because of the wide selection of insurer’s we can approach, our price is very often better than the internet.

Professional advice and guidance at no extra cost, why would you do anything else?

Just get in touch and let us guide you through the minefield 029 20 470 375

Have a great day 😊

Booted & Suited

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

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

When you take out property owners insurance, 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.

Have a great week 😎

Insurance Review

A Full Open Market Review.

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When di you last have a full, open market review of your business insurance programme?

  1. In the last 12 months
  2. Over 3 Years ago

If the answer is (2) you could be missing out on saving £1,000’s of pounds in premium.

The insurance market is dynamic and prices move all the time, some insurers come into sectors and some move out.

If you haven’t reviewed your programme for over 3 years just follow this link to book a full review:-

Save 30% on your insurance – Severn Bay

Have a great day

Various Buildings

Property Owners and Landlords take note!

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One of the simplest package policies on the market is for property owners, sometimes called landlords insurance. Everything you need in one policy. So, what is included and what is left out?

To start with you want to protect the physical structure of the building and this is done by providing cover for a specific range of “perils” such as:

  • Fire
  • Lightning
  • Aircraft
  • Explosion
  • Earthquake
  • Storm or Flood
  • Theft or attempted Theft
  • Impact
  • Escape of Water
  • Riots
  • Malicious Damage

Even with these covers there are exclusions, so it is vital you read the wording in detail #becauseaccidentshappen, to nice people all the time.

Cover is also available for “other” accidental damage, as well as subsidence, ground heave and landslip, but these are usually options, so check the detail.

Standard exclusions include: War, Radioactive contamination, Sonic Bangs, Changes in Water Table, Electronic Risks, Wear and Tear, deterioration, and any gradually operating cause.

Cover can be restricted for unoccupied property, or in the course of renovation, sale or repair.

Land for development can be covered, but for liability only.

More on property owners liabilities, business interruption and legal expenses this week.

Nigel

Is it covered?

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I once remember getting a call from a landlord who wanted to know if he was covered!

He was asking if he could claim for a new boiler because his wasn’t working any more. I asked why it wasn’t working and it transpired that it was simply old and had worn out.

I then had to explain that all insurance policies were designed to respond to defined “perils” such as Fire, Lightning, Explosion, Storm, Theft, Malicious Damage and that these events had to happen on an identifiable date.

What they are not designed to do is replace routine maintenance, or simply pay for things which have reached the end of their natural life.

Its why all policies covering damage to property always have a condition excluding damage resulting from any gradual cause, including deterioration, wear and tear.

This includes mildew, fungus, climatic or atmospheric conditions, frost, wet or dry rot.

An exclusion also exists for vermin, insects, chewing, scratching or tearing, or fouling by pets.

There are other exclusions routinely applied and in the contents section of your policy, look for “Exclusions that apply to the whole of your policy” or a similar wording.

Most of these are common sense applied to things which ae never meant to be covered, or in some circumstances where compensation would come under law, or from the government, such as sonic booms, war, or nuclear explosions.

If you’d like to know more about the detail of your policy wording, and what is and is not covered, in any particular circumstance, I’d relish the challenge!

I don’t think there is a question I can’t answer, so have a go!

Testing Testing

Corporate Continuity – Part 6

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Now to make sure it all works, and we have enhanced operational resilience across the organisation.

The final stage in any good continuity plan is VALIDATION. We need to know that the programme will remain effective, because things change in any organisation and continued validation will ensure overall resilience is maintained.

Validation is achieved by Exercising, Maintenance and Review.

First we must develop an exercise process to meet the needs of the organisation. Exercises can come in a number of forms.

  1. Discussion based
  2. Scenario exercises
  3. Simulations
  4. Live situational
  5. Tests

Each type has its own characteristics and will fit a particular need but should always involve as much realism as possible. They should manage the risk of disruption to the business, and maximise costs and benefits.

Thorough planning and support is required. There should be a clear method to STOP the exercise if necessary and thorough debriefing is always required, followed by a detailed report.

These plans must be maintained over time, and reviewed regularly. Self-assessment, quality assurance, performance appraisals and supplier performance should be measured, and this should always be followed by a thorough management review, to #preserveprofitability

Now relax and enjoy the weekend

Meeting

Corporate Continuity – Part 2

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Embedding Continuity

How long will that take?

I really need to get this done quickly.

Once I have buy in from the top management in an organisation, I need to “embed” business continuity within it. To do this you almost need to talk to every member of staff, and at the very least all the middle management and operational managers.

They need to know that this is a core discipline within the business. Part of this process is reassuring them, that they will get adequate resource and support from their chain of command.

It is the operational and middle management that will have to implement the plans and activate response structures when things go wrong, whilst top management deal with communications, the press and reputational issues.

There are lots of ways to do this – seminars, training sessions, awareness campaigns, right down to toolbox talks on the shop floor.

So, to answer the first question, how long will it take?

This depends on the nature of the organisation, the number of staff and locations over which they operate, and it can be anything from 6 months, to 3 years.

Business Continuity is ongoing process which will lead to enhanced operational resilience at all levels and embedding that is absolutely critical.

Have a great day and watch out for part 3

Planning

BCP – Do you know what it means?

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In business we think about growth and development plans all the time. How are we going to get from where we are now, to where we want to be in 5, 10,15 or 20 years time. How do we structure our business to achieve those aims and goals?

We know there are many things that could happen to frustrate those goals, and we pick off the easy ones buying business insurances once a year and then forgetting about them, but what about those things you can’t insure?

Whilst some of them might cross our mind occasionally, businesses founders seldom set time aside to consider the implications and even more rarely plan for events and incidents that could seriously interrupt the activity that generates income.

Here are a few you may not have thought about:

  1. Failure of a key supplier or customer
  2. New competitor buying into the market
  3. Legal and regulatory changes
  4. Import export restrictions
  5. Failure of critical IT systems or production machinery
  6. Long lead times on acquiring critical equipment
  7. Sudden increased material costs and stock shortages
  8. Cyber-attacks and financial crimes
  9. Micro-biological contamination
  10. Internal teams leaving to set up business

All these things can and do happen from time to time. I know, as a business continuity advisor I look at them all the time and make sure businesses can #justkeepgoing when unforeseen events really do occur.

With a little planning and foresight, you can develop plans and response structures that can kick in the minute an incident occurs, so that you can continue your income generating activity with little or no disruption and that can be the difference between success or failure.

Resilience = Consideration + Planning + Implementation + Ongoing Validation

If you’d like to know more, have a look at our website www.severnbay.com or call on 029 20 470375.

Construction Workers

All quiet on the construction front!

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Professional indemnity insurance is generally bought by what are loosely called professional service companies, such as architects, accountants, surveyors, IFA’s, solicitors and the like.

What is less widely known is that is often required in the #constructionindustry , especially where a principal contractor engages other firms to complete certain parts of the works.

Any company designing sub-sections of the works like consulting engineers, will be required to have #PIcover and this is normally required to the same level as the principal contractor.

Even electrical contractors may need an element of PI if what they do includes inspection, testing and signing off fixed electrical systems.

I was once asked for PI cover by a sign company. it was completely pointless, if the client wasn’t happy with something, he would just have gone back and fixed it, but because everyone else on the framework had PI he was forced to provide it also.

Not sure if you need PI just drop me a message here or call 02920 470375

Have a great week.