Do you operate a small business that has been significantly impacted by COVID-19?
Are you covered for COVID-19
In light of COVID-19, businesses should consider whether or not they might be insured under their insurance policies for events that deal with infectious disease.
Step 1 – Are you covered?
If you have business insurance, review your policy.
Check your policy for an insuring clause that may provide cover for circumstances where you have suffered a loss of revenue from an insured event. In particular, you will be looking for a clause that provides cover for loss associated with “infectious disease”.
Step 2 – Are there any exclusions?
If a clause does exist in your policy, make sure that the policy does not exclude cover for coronavirus. In other words, check the exclusions of the policy.
Most insurers will have drafted an exclusion clause in the policy for:
“highly pathogenic Avian influenza, or any listed human disease, biosecurity emergency or human biosecurity emergency defined in or declared under the Biosecurity Act 2015 (Cth), its subsequent amendments or successor, irrespective of whether discovered at the premises or elsewhere.”
Defined under the listed human diseases in the Biosecurity Act 2015 (Cth) is:
“Human coronavirus with pandemic potential.”
In these circumstances, cover for the recent COVID-19 pandemic would not be covered.
However, should your policy not contain an applicable exclusion, then proceed to step 3. There might also be circumstances where your policy contains an outdated exclusion that does not exclude coronavirus.
Step 3 – Notify your insurer?
Contact your insurance broker and advise them that you would like you intend to make a claim on the policy.
Summary
It is important that as we enter into unprecedented times, businesses consider all of their options for financial assistance. It may be that your policy excludes cover for coronavirus, however in some circumstances you just may be covered. We urge all businesses to review their policies and should you require any assistance, please contact us on 9523 5535 or businesslaw@southernwaters.com.au