Lifeline for liability insurance
Mar 24 2004
A scheme to help small firms that are struggling to obtain liability insurance has been launched by lobby group the Federation of Small Business (FSB).
Called Safety Network, the scheme aims to help small businesses assess and record their levels of health and safety, and will accredit those who show good practice. The FSB hopes that this can then be used as a recommendation to help firms secure insurance at a reasonable rate and differentiate them from cowboy firms.
The scheme, which costs £15 a month, will help firms identify problem areas and provides alternative solutions as well as an action plan.
“The common theme seemed to be that it was not cost-effective for insurers to differentiate between good firms and the cowboys at the very smallest level. This was leading to big increases in premiums or the withdrawal of insurance altogether for some types of business,” explains David Perry, chair of the FSB working party.
Perry added that small firms believe that the majority of insurers do not take their health and safety records into account.
“At the same time, a government report argued that more should be done to improve the link between the health and safety practice of firms, especially smaller ones, and their insurance premiums. We need to make small firms fireproof to the cowboy accusation,” he says.
For more information on the scheme, visit www.fsb.org.uk.
(24/3/04)
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