Insurance advice

I FOUGHT THE LAW...

...And the law won? Discover why Statutory Liability cover is worth having in #5 of Crombie Lockwood’s series on the safety strings you need on your insurance parachute.

There are over 4,500 laws, acts and regulations governing New Zealand and it’s easy to find yourself accidentally on the wrong side of the rules. Anything from Resource Management Act errors to employment relations or the PGD Act. So, the smart thing to do is make sure you include Statutory Liability insurance in your Master Plumbers Insurance package.

In technical terms, Statutory Liability insurance responds to unexpected and unintentional breaches of statute resulting in prosecution. In plain language, that means if you inadvertently breach a law or regulation that sees you charged, your Statutory Liability policy provides you with the means to fund your legal defence as well as the cost of any penalties or compensatory restitution.

Naturally, the policy does not cover employee contract claims, police prosecutions, IR proceedings or Health & Safety at Work Act penalties (though it does cover your legal costs of defending a HSAW charge)—and, unsurprisingly, it does not cover a reckless breach or deliberate disregard of statutory requirements.

Imagine if you accidentally cause an unexpected discharge into a local waterway and breach an environmental regulation; or an incorrectly installed water heater causes injury to a member of the public that sees you charged under the PGD Act—something that has happened quite recently, in fact.

The risks are constant and widespread. To secure your business against statutory breaches, make sure you have Statutory Liability cover provided by the exclusive protection of the Master Plumbers Insurance package.

About the author: Crombie Lockwood look after hundreds of plumbing businesses, so if you need advice or just help with understanding your current insurances, email vaughan.bridges@ crombielockwood.co.nz. Happy to help.

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