With Christmas fast approaching, it is often the busiest and most stressful time of the year for many businesses. While we rejoice for the increase in customers and sales, the increase in activity can mean extra risk for your business. Now is the time to check in to ensure you have enough financial protection to keep your business safe over the festive season.

Here are a few things you’d like to keep in check:

1. Increase in foot traffic
   During that time of year, one of the first things that comes to mind is crowds. Whether you run a retail store or a hospitality venue, you can expect an increase in foot traffic. The increase in visitors will also increase the likelihood of an incident or accident occurring. Risk in injury claims not only applies to customers and patrons. This also applies to employees seeing an increase in workload and financial stresses.
2. Increase in stock
   With the festive season, if you’re in retail or manufacturing, you’re likely carrying increased stock levels. Make sure you revise how much stock you are actually carrying and see if your current policy will cover that cost. In line with this, ensure that the extra goods you’re getting delivered have adequate cover.
3. Increased chance of burglary and shoplifting
   Over the Christmas break, whether you are operating with skeleton staff or are planning on closing completely, Christmas is prime time for burglary. We mentioned earlier how crowds increase the risk of injuries. Crowds also make it easier for shoplifters to steal merchandise without getting caught. The same goes for money, if you anticipate having extra cash on-site, make sure you’re protected.
4. Temporary staff and employee theft
   Many businesses hire temporary staff to help out during the busy season and if not properly trained in safety procedures, accidents can easily happen. Unfortunately with the increase in staff, employee theft of merchandise or money tends to go up too.

In order to ensure your business is protected over the holiday season, take the time to carry out an audit and update where necessary sums insured and liability limits. Get in touch with Risk Broking today and make certain that you have sufficient coverage to protect your business during the Christmas season.

Disclaimer: This article provides information rather than financial product or other advice. The content of this article does not take into account your objectives, financial situation, or needs. Please seek professional advice from your broker before acting on any information.

Whether you run a charity, a not-for-profit, or regular live events, volunteer insurance exists to protect both you and the volunteers that work for you. From music festival ticket collectors to ongoing charity work, volunteers are often the most important part of your organisation, and they need to be protected from accidents. Volunteer Insurance will cover them for personal accidents, and they and your organisation will be at a serious disadvantage if you do not have the right coverage in place. If you want to attract the right volunteers and keep your vital volunteers safe and confident, this specific insurance is going to be an essential requirement.

Who Needs It

Many types of organisations will need to have the right volunteer insurance policy in place.  Community groups, charities that provide healthcare for the elderly or disadvantaged, religious organisations, recreation clubs, and any charity or organisation that runs events, all make use of volunteers. These workers will not be covered by a standard business insurance policy, as they are distinctly different from salaried employees. Volunteer insurance policies protect the volunteer, but they also protect the organisation from public liability claims caused by the volunteers.

Did you know?

• There are an estimated one billion volunteer workers worldwide, and Australia has just under six million of them. (Volunteering Australia)
• The Australian economy receives approximately $290 billion from the work carried out by volunteers. (Pro Bono Australia)
• According to the 2020 census by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, volunteering rates were similar for males and females at 23% and 26%. Members of the population aged 40-54 were the largest group participating in voluntary work through an organisation. (Australian Bureau of Statistics)

What does it cover?

Employee insurance is very different from volunteer insurance, and you need to be aware of the protection that you are missing out on if your community group, non-profit, church, or charity makes use of volunteers. Volunteer insurance coverage means that you will get protection for:

Personal accidents: If a volunteer is injured while being involved in authorised volunteer activity, they will get protection and may receive weekly payments until they have recovered. This protects volunteers who are engaged in other work, as they may lose out on regular wages if they are injured while volunteering. It can even cover expenses caused by the accident and medical expenses.

Public liability: A well-tailored volunteer policy will also cover public liability. This type of policy will have a broader goal, and will offer protection for the organisation, any paid employees, and volunteers in cases of third-party personal injury or property damage. Not all volunteer policies will include public liability, so you need to confirm your coverage with your provider.

Voluntary Boards: If you have directors and board members that are categorised as volunteers, then you may want to include Professional Indemnity Liability. This will protect directors and officers from negligence by volunteers, defamation, slander, and sexual harassment. This is not usually included with a standard volunteer insurance policy, but may be a valuable addition if you make use of high-ranking professional volunteers.

Did you know that cyber-attacks went up by 700% last year, leaving many Australian businesses feeling unprepared? A cybersecurity threat can lead to lost data and money. When your system gets taken over by ransomware, your business is held, hostage.

A cyber insurance policy that covers you in the event of ransomware is a must for all businesses. Read on to learn about why your small business needs this type of tech insurance.

What Is Ransomware?

Malicious software that infects a computer with display messages that demand a fee needs to get paid is considered to be ransomware. Before your system can work again, the ransom must get paid.

This malware technique is a moneymaking scheme that gets installed through deceptive links. This could happen through phishing emails, calendar invitations, instant messages, or on a website. Once these links are clicked, they can encrypt files or lock the entire computer screen.

The ransomware attack rate in Australia is far from the global average. In fact, 67% of Australian organisations experienced this issue in the last 12 months.

Protecting Your Business

There are steps you can take to protect your business from an attack, but without ransomware insurance, there is still a high risk. Along with getting the proper business insurance, you can do the following:

• Update Software Regularly
• Never open unsolicited emails
• Backup data regularly
• Restrict software privileges within the workplace
• Enable spam filters
• Use firewalls to block suspicious content
• Use strong passwords and multi-factor authentication
• Scan all emails for threats

With how much technology has advanced, you can get hacked even when you are being safe. Insurance is the only sure way to protect your business.

Cyber Insurance

Cyber insurance can cover expenses and other financial losses due to a cyber event like malware attacks, cyber extortion, social engineering, or other invasive software.

A cyber policy typically covers three things, even though the policy may be broad. With a policy, you get covered for Liability (regulatory defence and privacy lawsuits), Internal Financial Loss (notification expenses, business interruption, extortion, data recovering, and crime/theft), and Emergency Incident Response (covering costs that were lost due to a cyber event).

Typically, a main coverage cyber policy includes:

• Privacy Breach Notification & Crisis Management Costs
• Privacy & Security Liability
• Business Interruption – Loss of Profits & Operational Expenses
• Data Recovery & System Damage
• Regulatory Defence and Fine
• Media Liability

Additionally, you can enjoy other coverages by paying an extra premium including:

• Social Engineering & Funds Transfer Fraud
• Payment Card Data Security Liability

Get Ransomware Insurance Now

Ransomware insurance is important for any business that uses a computer system. As small businesses are more susceptible, it is necessary to protect your business by following a few steps. However, the only way to ensure protection for your business is by adding ransomware insurance.
Anyone can fall victim to hackers, contact us today to get the insurance you must have for protection.

Running a business has a number of responsibilities and associated risks whether you are a sole trader or global enterprise. Business insurance can protect you against the financial damage of business risks giving you peace of mind to concentrate on growing your business.

In Australia, some insurances are compulsory – if you hire employees you must have workers compensation in accordance with each state regulations. Further to this some companies are required to have Public Liability Insurance to cover for third party death or injury and if you own a motor vehicle Third Party Insurance is also compulsory.

In addition to the compulsory insurances there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution. Insurance companies will often package different types of insurance together which is more economical than separate policies. You will want to protect aspects of your business such as:

• Business income
• Business assets
• Customers
• Employees
• Business owners

As your broker, we have the expertise and will take the time to understand your business and source the most suitable insurance for your needs.

Some of the key insurance products we’ll look at include

Technology and Cybercrime Insurance
Technology Insurance covers accidental damage or loss to computers, electronic equipment and data. Cyber Liability Insurance protects your business against the cost of keeping your data secure and business disruption in the event of cybercrime.

Property Insurance
Property insurance covers damage or loss to buildings, contents and stock caused by insured events and accidental damage.

Business Vehicle Insurance
In addition to compulsory third party insurance we recommended that you consider business vehicle insurance to protect your company vehicles in the event of damage, theft or collisions.

Product Liability Insurance
Product Liability Insurance is a must for any business that manufactures its own products. Even with excellent manufacturing practice and quality control you cannot completely rule out legal action for a faulty product.

Directors and Officers Insurance
Managers are accountable for their actions and also the outcome of their decisions and unfortunately it’s easy to make a wrong decision in a high-pressure situation. Even with sound knowledge of the market, compliance regulations and risk management an unintentional mistake can be very costly which is where D&O Coverage offers protection. Risks that can be covered include employment practice, HR issues, reporting errors, unauthorised decisions and breaching compliance regulations or laws.

Contact us for a business risk analysis and customised insurance package.

It’s a fast moving world, especially at the moment. Even though there’s so much going on, it’s essential to update your insurance broker any time your circumstances change to help ensure the cover you have in place is still appropriate for your enterprise.

A popular business pivot many beer and spirit firms have undertaken in recent months is a great example of what can go wrong if firms don’t tell their broker when their operations change.

During the early stages of the corona virus pandemic, many of these firms switched from making alcohol to hand sanitiser, as the need for their regular products dropped as bars and pubs closed and as demand for sanitiser sky rocketed.This was a great commercial solution for these firms, and a wonderful way to keep staff employed.

But it’s important these enterprising enterprises let their insurers know how their operations had changed, because their risks also shifted alongside their product lines.

Let’s say, for instance, the hand sanitiser damaged people’s skin and caused painful rashes, and the affected customers or businesses that had purchased the product made a claim against the business. The insurer could deny the claim if the business had not informed their insurer through their broker they were changing their product line, leaving the business liable to pay any damages from their own earnings.

“It’s important to tell your broker any time you circumstances change, who can in turn let your insurer know,” says John Clark, Steadfast’s broker support manager.“This is because policyholders should disclose anything that may affect the insurer’s decision to cover the business.

These include things like your business premises becoming unoccupied and reduced security,” he adds.There are many other situations organisations are facing at the moment they should also let their broker know about.“Many businesses like hotels and retailers may have seen their stock levels fall during the lockdown.

Read the full article on Steadfast Well Covered.