Insurances

Insurance

• Insurance, is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent loss.

• Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another

Insurance Contracts

• Insurance policies are contracts• Offer – Transfer risk of a loss from you to

Insurance company• Acceptance – Filling out of policy form &

lodgment and payment of policy • Consideration

Insurance Contracts• Contracts of Utmost Good Faith• Insurance contracts are held to an even higher

standard

• In a contract of utmost good faith, each party has a duty to reveal all material information“DUTY OF DISCLOSURE”

• if any such data is not disclosed, the other party will usually have the right to void the agreement

Insurance Contracts

• For an Insurance Contract to be Valid you must have an insurable interest

• Insurable Interest defined by Insurance Contracts Act 1984 as suffering an economic or pecuniary loss.

Compulsory Insurances by Law

• Workers Compensation

• Third Party Insurance

• Home Owners Warranty

Workers Compensation

• Workers compensation provides protection to workers and their employers in the event of a work related injury or disease.

• Injured workers may have an entitlement to weekly payments, lump sums for permanent impairment (and pain and suffering where applicable),.

Workers Compensation

• All NSW employers must have a workers compensation

• if they pay more than $7,500 in wages,

• employ an apprentice or trainee,

• or are part of a group for premium purposes.

Workers Compensation System• The New South Wales Workers Compensation System

The New South Wales workers compensation system comprises four elements:• New South Wales WorkCover Scheme – which provides workers compensation

insurance through contracted Scheme Agents to employers operating in New South Wales.

• SICorp (through the Treasury Managed Fund) – manages workers compensation, administration and financial liability for most public sector employers except those who are self-insurers.

• Self-insurers – organisations with enough capital to underwrite, pay and manage their own claims. There are strict criteria that employers must meet prior to WorkCover granting a self-insurers licence.

• The workers compensation system operates under the Workers Compensation Act 1987 and the Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998.

Workers Compensation Premiums

• Are based on a number of things, including: • the industry in which the employer• the amount of wages the employer pays to its

workers • the costs of any claims made by their workers• the dust diseases levy.

Rates

Workers Comp Rates

Workers Comp Rates

Workers Comp Rates

Workers Comp Rates

Third Party Person Insurance

• Under the third party insurance scheme, compensation is available where people are killed or injured as a result of an accident caused by the fault of the driver of a motor vehicle

• Does not Cover loss cause to property

Other Insurances

• Construction Risk -insurance protects the works against

• Loss & Damage to the works• Loss & Damage to the Equipment & Tools• May Include Public Liability etc

Other Insurance

• Comprehensive - covers you for all of the damage caused to your own car by you in an accident.

• Covers damage caused to property

• If you're buying a car on an instalment basis, financiers will usually insist on this cover.

Other Insurances

• Public liability insurance protects you and your business against the financial risk of being found liable to a third party for death or injury, loss or damage of property or ‘pure economic’ loss resulting from your negligence.

Other Insurances

• Professional Indemnity insurance protects you from legal action taken for losses incurred as a result of your advice. It provides indemnity cover if your client suffers a loss - either material, financial or physical - directly attributed to negligent acts.

• Self employed you won’t be covered by workers compensation

• Income protection or disability insurance - covers part of your normal income if you are prevented from working through sickness or accident.

• Trauma insurance - provides a lump sum when you are diagnosed with one of several specified life threatening illnesses.

• Term life insurance or whole of life cover - provides your dependents with a lump sum if you die.

• Total and permanent disability insurance - provides a lump sum only if you are totally and permanently disabled before retirement.

Other Insurance

• Key Man - taken out by a business to compensate that business for financial losses that would arise from the death or extended incapacity of the member of the business specified on the policy

Other Insurance

• Partnership insurance - allows you to take out an insurance policy against the risk to your business of the death or incapacity of a business partner. In the event of such a death or incapacitation, proceeds are payable to the company/partners

Home Owners Warranty

• Dept Fair Trading does not issue Home Owners Warranty

• Structural Defects for 6 years – does not affect common law rights

• Non Structural Defects 2 years• Incomplete Works

Home Owners Warranty

• Only for Residential Construction

• Only available to licensed contractors

• Must be provided where the works are valued over $12 000

• Less than 3 storeys and– 2 or more dwellings

Home Owners Warranty

Must be provided before1.Taking any money on the contract2.Commencement of Work3.Supplying a kit home

Home Owners Warranty When can a claim be made

Insurance of last resort, provides cover if either

1. Contractor Dies2. Contractor becomes insolvent3. Contractor disappears and reasonable attempts

have been made to find them

Maximum Payouts

20% of Contract Value for Bankruptcy etc to a Maximum of $300 000 for defective work

• Macaura v Northern Assurance Co 1925

M was a landowner who sold timber from his estate to a company of which he was the sole owner. he insured the timber that lay on his land in his own name as the person insured under the policies issued by the insurance company. A few weeks later the timber was destroyed by fire. M claimed on the insurance policy. Northern Assurance claimed that the timber belonged to the company and as a consequence it was not properly insured.

HELD : The timber belonged to the company and not to M. As a result his claim failed as he did not have an insurable interest in the property