AVR-Chat

<< Usual disclaimers ;-) Informal advice only, speak to someone who really knows 
what they are talking about prior to taking any follow-on action after all this 
is the net & I could just be a talking dog that can type >>

> The story so far: 
> Worker's compensation is compulsory in Australia if
> you operate as a company. Should look at some other
> form of accident insurance if you don't.

In Queensland at least, Worker's compensation is mandatory if you employ others. 
If you are the company director / sole employees then you are exempt. In QLD the 
definition of a worker has been dramatically revised & may include independent 
contractors which come to your premises & use your equipment. In short they have 
extended it to just about everybody aside from yourself... Directors are expendable.

> Public liability and product liability are pretty much
> tied together for those of us that manufacture some goods.
> Those of us who simply design or write software for
> third parties may get away with public liability, HOWEVER
> read on.
> 
> The old fashioned 5 million dollars insurance is no longer
> good enough and a 10 millions dollar insurance or even 20
> million is necessary.

PL of $10-20M is a common requirement but isn't that expensive & not that 
difficult to obtain.  Most clients won't even look at you without it.
> 
> THE KILLER PART!! If a disaster happens and someone dies
> or your product starts a fire that burns down a shopping
> centre or other major disaster and the fault occurred
> because of a faulty design or formula (software bug??)
> then you are NOT COVERED by your public and product
> liability insurance. This is when you need professional
> indemnity insurance. A friend of mine almost had a heart
> attack when he checked his insurance and found out that
> he did not seem to have professional indemnity insurance.
> (he designs and manufactures his own products)

Product liability Insurance covers defective products that you sell, 
Professional Indemnity covers the opinions and advice that you give in a 
Professional capacity.

Product Liability is a vast unknown & is dependant on the type of product & 
market, not to mention the Companies past history.

$5M is a common PI requirement, but becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. 
The kicker is that after years of scaring everyone with horror stories to 
encourage people to require/buy bigger policies the Insurance Industry has done 
a back flip and doesn't want to write the insurance! They have discovered that 
selling a $5M policy to someone that would be adequately covered by a $1M 
actually just makes them potentially liable for a higher risk if the issue goes 
to court. Figure that! ( & that IS directly from the horses mouth).

Trouble is that now the Client's company lawyers want all contractors on-site to 
be covered by ridiculously high policy values & the insurance companies are 
reluctant to issue the policies.

> So far it seems that only GIO, NRMA and CGU seem to
> offer the above types of insurance in Australia.
> ABBI does not offer any insurance for electrical engineers
> or anything else that has to do with electricity.

APESMA has a deal with CGU, it provided PI/PL at 50% the price of the nearest 
competitive quote that I got from any other company, including others that 
quoted CGU as the insurer.  ( APESMA also gives good deals on Accom, car rentals 
and just about everything else ;-) If you join, tell them I sent you, I get a 
credit!

Cheers

Don Ingram