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Are your insurers listening toyou?

Are your insurers listening toyou?

05/09/2008 | Channel: Contracts, New Products & Services, Business Improvement

International Transport Intermediaries Club (ITIC) is an insurance association established in 1925.

ITIC insures 1900 different businesses throughout the world and is recognised as the leading mutual provider of professional indemnity insurance in its field. ITIC works closely with transport professionals and their insurance brokers to provide specialist guidance and advice on their risks in their working environment, both in the United Kingdom and overseas.

ITIC has concluded that many insurers do not understand the work that professionals in the rail industry undertake. Often, these insurers do not analyse the work of the professional working on a project and, as a result, your premiums are increased unnecessarily.

The service that we provide and the width of our professional indemnity insurance has resulted in a significant growth in the number of companies involved in the rail industry insuring with ITIC over recent years. ITIC’s insurance includes worldwide cover for bodily injury and property damage as standard; this is of paramount importance to those working in the rail industry and differentiates ITIC’s insurance from many traditional underwriters who either exclude, or expect you to pay an additional premium for, this important element of cover.

ITIC makes four recommendations to professionals working in the rail industry:

1. Ask your current insurers or brokers if they understand exactly what it is that you do. For example, if you are a signalling systems design engineer, your direct involvement in the day to day operational environment is limited. You design a signalling system on a railway network, but you are not necessarily the party who operates and maintains it. Your liability is substantially less than the operator and, therefore, you require an insurance that is adapted specifically to cover your liabilities if you make an error in the design of the system. However, the liabilities resulting from an error in the use of the system that you have designed fall under the operator’s liability insurance programme.

2. Enquire about a longer term, non-contract specific, business wide, professional indemnity policy. It is more expensive to buy insurance for each individual contract or tender than buying an annual policy that covers all your work.

3. Ask your insurance broker or underwriter whether bodily injury or property damage cover is included in your policy at no additional cost.

4. Ascertain whether your policy of insurance provides you with worldwide cover.

You can meet ITIC at InnoTrans 2008 in Berlin this coming September

If you, or your insurance broker, would like to contact ITIC, please contact Roger Lewis. ITIC’s underwriting director, on

ITIC
Tel: 0207 338 0150
Email: itic@thomasmiller.com
Web: www.itic-insure.com