Brokers, it’s time to look through the coverage your public liability insurance offers.
That’s the message from the Chartered Insurance Institute’s (CII) Society of Insurance Broking, which is urging brokers to ensure policies account for Legionnaires’ disease.
The professional body has introduced a good practice guide exploring the risk and how it can impact brokers’ corporate clients as the UK returns to work following the lockdown period. Many are thought to be at high risk from infected water after properties were left vacant – and this guide delves into how the wording in many policies means that most, or even all, outbreaks of the disease will fall within an exclusion cause.
As such, brokers need to make a specific application to their insurers for additional wording to ensure supplementary cover.
“Many business owners, especially in the SME arena, will be unaware that not all public liability insurance policies provide cover for Legionnaires’ disease,” said Society of Insurance Broking board member Stuart Stead. “As we know, if an outbreak is confirmed then it could cause not only a financial penalty but potentially a very severe reputational effect on top of that, from which many businesses could struggle to recover.
“This guide sets out how brokers can better assist their clients in relation to explaining this insurable threat, and thereby financially mitigating the risk should the worst case occur.”
