On the 13th of April, the MBA North held its quarterly CHS member Forum. One of the main topics was “Public Liability versus Contractors All Risk Insurance” the presentation was conducted by Mr Bryan Eybers from RBS, prompted by Dr Grenz based on an incident that occurred on a site that Dr Grenz was involved on.
She shared her experienced as an HSE practitioner, as part of legal compliance audits, “as professionals in HSE we focus on public liability insurance”” ( Grenz) . On this project, they were dealing with premium priced equipment.
One of the contractors were tasked with transporting and installing the robots, regrettably, the robot, valued at 1.2 million rand was dropped causing damage. The claims process was initiated, with the sum replacement value including time delay amounting to, 1.4 million rand.
After investigation the insurance company repudiated the claim. Dr Grenz brought forward that even through the process of approaching the Ombudsman, The Public Liability insurance does not cover negligence, and it was due to negligence that the robot was damaged.
It was at this stage that Dr Grenz began to investigate and came to learn, that Contractors All Risk Insurance would have covered the incident and she believes that practitioners and stakeholders in the sector can learn from this incident, and advised, that they consider Contractors All Risk Insurance instead of Public Liability Insurance for projects.
Mr Bryan Eybers advised Dr Grenz, that the contractor required an erection policy and not just Public Liability cover. This can be determined through a needs analysis, based on the type of work being conducted. “There is no one size fits all approach” ( Eybers). Cover must be designed based on the type of work that will be executed.
All Risk insurance meets all the insurance obligations placed on the contractor based on the scope of work. The needs analysis will clarify inclusion and exclusion therein. RBS in partnership with MBA North is available for your needs analysis or obligation free quote. Contact boitumelo@mbanorth.co.za
