Posts Tagged ‘asbestos insurance’
Families win asbestos compensation appeal
Seven Judges at The Supreme Court said two families can keep compensation awarded by the courts for their loved ones deaths.
Both Dianne Willmore and Enid Costello died of mesothelioma, an asbestos cancer, having had small doses of asbestos dust.
Dianne was exposed whilst a pupil at her school and Mrs Costello during her work.
The Council and employers accepted they would have been negligent in allowing them to be exposed to asbestos.
All seven Law Lords said that the test as to whether or not a person should be compensated should remain as the ‘material contribution’ test and not a ‘doubling of the risk’ test as the Council and employers had suggested.
Asbestos Surveys: Insurance implications of the introduction of HSG 264: The Survey Guide
Insurance for those undertaking any form of asbestos work has long been an issue as the insurance sector world wide are having to pay substantial sums of money to deal with claims from historic asbestos exposure. In the UK we have three types of insurance that are applicable to those who undertake asbestos inspection work.
The first Employers Liability cover (EL) is a legal requirement for all businesses and is designed to provide cover for employees in the event of accidents or exposure to materials such as asbestos. The levels of cover are generally prescribed and is typically £10,000,000 for each and every claim. This insurance is not capped and multiple claims can be made each having a maximum limit of £10,000,000. This is know as an ‘each and every claims basis’
The second type of insurance is known as Public Liability cover. As the name suggests this type of cover is in place to protect members of the public in the event of claims, for example a construction contractor dropping a hammer.
Many insurers who offer public liability cover include exclusions that mean asbestos related risks are not covered within the policy. So if the contractor disturbs asbestos within a shop for example, he would potentially be liable for any claim made by his employees, but not by any claim made by those working in the shop or indeed members of the public. Those working with asbestos as specialist contractors, asbestos surveyors and consultants have to “buy back” this cover at considerable cost. Typical levels of covers for asbestos specialists are £5,000,000 and again this is on an each and every claims basis.