Every business needs some form of General Liability (GL) insurance coverage.  GL provides cover for protection in personal injury and or property damage claims made against your business.

A typical public liability policy will cover you for your business activities Australia wide.  The policy provides cover for legal expenses incurred in defending claims against your business by third parties.   A typical business that should purchase public liability insurance are businesses that:-

  • Have a location open to the public
  • Interact with people on a job site
  • Handle client property
  • Rent business space
  • Sell products to customers
  • Advertise or market their services
  • Use social media and have an internet presence

What is a Certificate of Currency (CoC)? 

A CoC is a summary of your insurance cover.  It is a document that is used to show external parties (often clients) that you have insurance in place. You can contact Planned Cover at any time to obtain a CoC and provided the policy has been paid a CoC will be issued.  As this document is issued by the Insurer, please allow a couple of days for the broker to obtain the certificate.

What does ‘policy exclusions’ mean? 

It is important to understand that all insurance policies have exclusions.  This means that even though you have transferred a risk to an insurance policy there may be some areas of that risk that are excluded from the policy and therefore not insured.  For example, risks associated with asbestos are generally excluded from most insurance policies.  As are risks associated with general maintenance, or lack thereof, wear and tear or deliberate acts by insured persons.

What is the difference between PI and PL Insurance?

Both of these policies have similarities as they protect against loss for Personal Injury and Property Damage. However Professional Indemnity Insurance usually covers you for Civil Liability arising out of your Professional Services. Public Liability Insurance provides cover for claims arising from your Business Activities that are unrelated to the provision of Professional Services. For example, your duty to provide a safe environment for your clients when visiting your offices. Public Liability is usually at least Australia Wide, so it also protects you when you are away from the office, ie on site.

Who will ask if I have PL insurance? 

Your clients may ask for proof of PL insurance and/or stipulate in their contracts the PL policy limit and a period for which the policy must be maintained.

Case Study

One of your employees has an appointment on a construction site to inspect the progress of the project. Whilst on site your employee accidentally trips on their untied shoelace and knocks the construction manager over. The construction manager dislocates his shoulder and breaks his arm in the fall. The construction manager claims under his employers’ workers compensation policy, which pays in accordance with the State’s legislation for the injury, as well as medical costs and wages whilst the construction manager is recovering from the injuries and is unable to work. The insurer of the workers compensation policy then seeks recovery of their costs by taking legal action on your practice claiming your employee was negligent for not correctly tying their shoelace.

Staff Profile

Belinda _Levy

Belinda Levy

Account Manager – VIC

Cos Cirocco

National Business Manager - State Manager SA

Kylie McGrath

State Manager - WA

Erica Callaghan

Account Manager - QLD/NT