Is Your Public Liability Insurance Adequate?

Most businesses would not operate without a Public & Products Liability policy – But do they have the right cover? Insurance is like most things in life in that you only get what you pay for – In many cases the cheapest policies are not the right option and taking the wrong policy could result in a financial disaster for a business if it does not provide adequate cover. In simple terms a Public & Products Liability policy provides cover for claims brought against a business where a Third Party has suffered Bodily Injury or Property Damage from their products, services and operations. The policy can only respond if the loss is a result of a negligent act by the policy holder – i.e. It needs to be legally liable.

The policy will only trigger if a Third Party suffers Bodily Injury or Property Damage.

For example:

Bodily Injury – A member of the public enters the policy holder’s factory and slips on some sawdust which has been left on the factory floor.

Property Damage – A policy holder is moving some timber on an unregistered forklift and backs into a customer’s car.

These are examples of straight forward claims.

However, what would happen if a fabricator was asked to design and manufacture some roof trusses and after they were delivered they were found to be incorrectly designed and could not be installed?

As you will see from the “important words” above there is no Bodily Injury nor is there any Property Damage and as a result the Public & Products Liability policy cannot respond.

The customer is annoyed as there is a hold up on the project which will result in an economic or financial loss for them. Therefore, they take action against the Fabricator for recovery of their financial loss. As detailed above the standard Public & products policy will not cover pure economic or financial loss claims only and as such there is no protection under a standard policy.

FTMA has an arrangement with AB Phillips who have a solution for this and similar scenarios. AB Phillips have an option where FTMA members can extend their Public & Products Liability policy to claims for Financial Loss. Clearly this is a significant exposure for Fabricators and the like and it is examples like that above where it is vital for Members to have adequate insurance protection.

AB Phillips are based in Victoria but are able to service clients anywhere in Australia. Many FTMA members are already clients of AB Phillips who are also proud Silver sponsors of FTMA Australia. Contact AB Phillips:

 

Rose Dee

rose@abphillips.com.au

Phone 1300 242 136

Direct 03 8586 9316

www.abphillips.com.au