GENERAL INSURANCE – MINING SERVICES CONTRACTORS

INDUSTRIAL SPECIAL PLANT (ISP)

Industrial Special Plant (ISP) cover, also known as Mobile Plant and Machinery Insurance is a type of policy designed specifically for Mining Services contractors where the business revolves around mobile, self-propelled machinery such as excavators, skid steers, loaders, dozers, telehandlers, EWP’s, cranes, drills and augers.

An ISP policy will provide you with any protection for recovery of undamaged vehicles, the costs of hiring alternative plant, cover for your machinery whilst on dry hire, or, damage by employees who are misusing your equipment.

An ISP policy can also cover equipment that you hire in. Most companies that hire you equipment will include a damage waiver, but, those damage waivers usually don’t extend to theft which can leave you and your business with an uninsured loss not insurable on a motor vehicle insurance policy. The Hired in Plant insurance cover can be a specified list of equipment or a broad blanket cover for all equipment you hire up to a specific limit.

PUBLIC LIABILITY (ALSO KNOWN AS BROADFORM LIABILITY)

This cover can be included within an ISP policy for some smaller businesses. For some larger businesses, or where more specialised cover is required, we can help you arrange a separate Broadform Liability Insurance designed specifically for Mining Services Contractors

Public Liability insurance provides protection if someone makes a claim against You, the business or its employees when damage to third-party property or personal injury has been caused by your business activities.

COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLE

We understand the importance of making sure you have the right cover for your commercial motor vehicles in place be it cars, trucks or trailers.

Commercial motor vehicle insurance helps protect your vehicles from accidental theft to damage and has been designed with the common risk exposures of commercial drivers in mind.

We highly recommend business owners consider the benefits of arranging commercial vehicle insurance if they use their cars, trucks and trailers for business purposes.

BUSINESS INSURANCE FOR YOUR DEPOT OR OFFICE

There are many different types of optional covers with business insurance.

These covers can range from inclusions for Business Property, Theft, Glass Cover, Business Interruption, Money, Machinery Breakdown, Electronic Equipment Breakdown, Tax Audit, General Property and Employee Dishonesty.

Comparing business insurance between different companies can be overwhelming if you’re not sure what to look for.

DOWNTIME LOSS OF INCOME

Downtime Loss of Income cover is an extension of cover that provides financial protection for your business in the event of damage to or theft of your insured machine(s). In most cases, cover can be arranged for either:

• Loss of Income during the time the machine is repaired (up to a maximum $ per week for a set number of weeks),
• The costs to hire a temporary machine allowing you to continue to work whilst your machine is fixed, recovered, or replaced, or,
• The lease or finance costs that are incurred for the machine whilst it is fixed, recovered, or relaced.

CONTRACT WORKS INSURANCE

Contract works insurance policies provide protection during the course of the construction project relating to unforeseen physical loss or damage during the construction period and/or maintenance period against a range of project-related risks such as fire, theft, malicious damage, storm, hail, cyclone, flood and accidental damage.

In addition, sub-limits may include removal of debris, mitigation costs, professional fees, escalation costs, existing structure, principal supplied materials and tools and equipment.

The main types of construction projects include:

• Buildings – Residential, Industrial, Commercial, including refurbishment and renovation of existing dwellings.
• Civil Works – Pipelines, Roads, Railways, Bridges, Tunnels and Shafts, Water, Dams and Sewerage Plants, Towers.

Cover can be provided 1 of 2 ways:

• Project Specific Insurance: This is a one-off insurance which provides protection for a single project and its related risk. This includes owner/builders.
• Annual Construction Insurance: This insurance is based on an annual basis and covers the projected work of a contractor/builder during that period. Provides flexible protection.

CONTRACTUAL LIABILITY

Whilst incidental contractual liability insurance may be insured by some liability insurance policies, it often excludes liability that would not have existed without the contract. This exclusion of the included cover generally will make most policies not actually cover any contractual liabilities arising from any contract that you enter into with customers or suppliers.

MANAGEMENT LIABILITY INSURANCE

As the director of a company, you can be held personally liable for decisions you or your staff make on your behalf in the running of your business. These decisions may result in an alleged breach of employment law (harassment, discrimination, bullying, unfair dismissal), trade practices act, environmental protection, or workplace health & safety laws. A directors liability or management liability insurance policy generally protects the company and any innocent parties by paying for defence cover to defend against such allegations against you as a director and / or the business entity.

PROFESSIONAL INDEMNITY INSURANCE

Professional Indemnity insurance is designed for professionals who provide a specialist service or advice, providing protection for financial loss and legal costs in the event of a claim. This claim may be a result of an actual or alleged negligent act, error or omission whilst providing your professional service or advice.

If someone alleges that you’ve made a mistake, overlooked a critical piece of information, misstated a fact or they have misinterpreted you in the course of your work, and this results in a financial loss for your client, then they may take legal action against you to recover these losses.

Professional Indemnity claims can arise from simple things like:

• Giving incorrect advice
• Faulty designs
• A miscalculation
• Incorrect diagnosis or treatment
• An act, omission or breach of duty
• Engaging in misleading or deceptive conduct
• Loss of documentation
• Inadvertently defaming someone
• Failing to meet a deadline
• Not meeting your clients expectations

Professional Indemnity insurance is designed to protect the assets and reputation of your business in the event of a claim.

CONTRACTORS ENVIRONMENTAL LIABILITY (CEL)

As a Civil Contractor or Earthmoving Operator, you may be responsible for environmental cleanup costs associated with a contamination that may arise from work that you undertake whilst on site.

Whilst some public liability policies do provide ‘pollution liability’ they are often restricted to a sudden and unforeseeable release of contaminants, such as a diesel tank impacted by an excavator suddenly leaks provided such impact wasn’t a foreseeable event. As a result of the limitations in a public liability policy and the potential for significant contamination cleanup costs, it is possible to insure for your environmental liability insurance as a Mining Services Contractor.

TRADE CREDIT INSURANCE

Trade Credit Insurance provides cover for your unsecured debtors in the event that your debtor becomes insolvent or unable to pay their debt to you whilst within your credit terms. The policy can provide up to 90% of the outstanding income owed to you. This is not a type of invoice factoring but an insurance policy that responds to one specific debtor if they are unable to pay. This will be particularly important if you choose to wholesale your goods to other business providing them with credit terms in which to make a payment after they have placed their order.

For some savvy business owners, this type of insurance can be used to help them grow by underwriting the risk associated with supplying to large corporate customers who require credit terms often at 90 days end of month as part of their conditions to supply. This type of insurance helps reduce the risk that this new large customer won’t make payment when the time comes.