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The main trouble with insurance, and it does cause business people quite a lot of trouble, is that people think about it in a variety of wrong ways.

A wrong way is to pay as little as possible in insurance premium, without thinking about the security of the business.

Well, you may have a crystal ball which tells you that you are never going to have a loss. If so, it is logical to buy insurance only when you have to. You will find that those with a monetary interest in your property, for example, mortgagees, will insist on your having certain policies, and some insurance such as automobile insurance may be compulsory in many provinces. But apart from those situations, you should buy no insurance - if you are not going to have any losses.

However, most people face the fact that they may have a loss some day, and perhaps a serious one they can not afford it by themselves. Having reached this conclusion, the next step must surely be to see that you have adequate coverage - that is, insurance that leaves no important gaps, but does not waste money on insuring trivial items that you can better pay for yourself.

Risk and liability associated with Internet communications is a "vast insurance field that is only beginning to open," .
Internet is everwhere. No metter what business you run, you will use computers, Emails. The risk is more and more connected with your business.
The indeterminate nature of Internet law means risk managers need to focus on risk rather than liability when it comes to assessing so-called "cyber-risks," or E-risk.
As an example of the difficulties, Supreme Court of Canada's recent decision in the copyright case of Heather Robertson v. The Thomson Corporation (the owner of the Globe and Mail). The court's split in the case portends how difficult it will be for risk managers to assess corporate risk in an uncertain legal environment surrounding the Internet.

Will a notice be attached to renewals to advise Insured’s of these changes?
Yes, a policyholder notice will go out, giving an overview of the changes. It will also be posted on the broker portal. Your underwriter can supply you with a hard copy if needed.

Are other insurers adopting the changes that have been made to the IBC wording?
Some insurers already have General Aggregate Limits in their CGL wordings. Check with your other markets to find out if they have already done so, or will be implementing them.
There is a limitation in the definition of Insured Contract for leased premises that seems to take away coverage that the insured may need under the conditions of the lease agreement.
The restriction has been added to preclude coverage when the insured is liable solely because of the contract they have signed with the lessor. Coverage is not excluded with respect to their tort legal liability (as opposed to contract) for damage caused by negligence. Under the CGL, property damage to rented premises is excluded because it is covered under the Tenants’ Legal Liability section of the policy, as long as that liability arises from negligence by the insured and not just the provisions in the lease.

Are the coverage changes being “read in” to all policies effective January 1, 2006?
No. The changes will take effect on renewal. For example, a risk with an expiry date of April 15, 2006 will be subject to the new wordings as of that date.

Will you write OL&T coverage (Owners’, Landlords’ and Tenants’ Liability)?
ING does not have a separate OL&T form. Normally, we prefer to write the entire risk. In exceptional cases where only OL&T coverage is desired, we would restrict our CGL by excluding the Products-Completed Operations hazard. Note that the General Aggregate would continue to apply.

Do you charge an additional premium for adding the Designated Location and Project Site General Aggregate Endorsements?
Currently, pricing is based on the Each Occurrence Limit provided and the exposure. For example, a schedule of locations is usually priced per location while contractors are priced based on revenue. Adding the endorsement will not result in increased rates simply because of the implementation of a General Aggregate Limit.

If Electronic Data is excluded and not considered part of the Named Insured’s product (as it is not a tangible product), how can the insured’s data be protected?
Some property forms, e.g., EDP endorsements, Valuable Papers coverage, may provide coverage for re-creation of data if destroyed or damaged by an insured peril. Liability coverage may be available through a specialty market if the insured has liability exposures where their product can cause damage to, corruption, or loss of data (computer viruses & worms), web hacks and computer break-ins to steal proprietary information or confidential customer information. Your underwriter can give you names of insurers who may write this“cyber” or “media” liability coverage.

Can we “buy-up” the General Aggregate Limit? (e.g., if ING normally provides $5M General Aggregate Limit where Each Occurrence Limit is $5M, would you consider $5M Each Occurrence/$10M General Aggregate?) As brokers, we are concerned that in the unlikely case that a single event exhausts the General Aggregate, our client will be left with no coverage for the remainder of the policy period on premises/operations losses.

The wording now excludes: losses that any insured or employee knew hadoccurred, in whole or in part, prior to the policy period; and losses that began prior to the insurer going on risk and continued into subsequent policy periods. Why was it necessary to make this change? Is the policy now a “claims-made” form?

The new commercial general liability form is developed by IAO some monthes ago.
Some companies took this new wording, some doesn't.
Some use all new wordings, some just use part of it.

In broker's side, they are very difficult to explain the difference of CGL coverages from different companies.

So as a insurance buyer, you have to ask what CGL they provide.

It is very important, don't forget to ask.

As you have your building(s) insured under the policy, we would like to bring it to your attention to several important issues in the insurance of a building.

1. Co-insurance

With most policies, they are subject to a 90% co-insurance clause, and their coverage is on a replacement cost basis. What it means is that you should insure for at least 90% of the replacement cost (i.e. the cost to replace your building with a brand new building of the like kind and quality). If the amount insured is less than 90% of the replacement cost, you will not be paid 100% of your loss. Following is an example:
You insure for $1,000,000 on a building, whereas the replacement cost of which is $1,500,000; if you have a valid claim of $300,000, you will be paid: $300,000 X 1,000,000/1,500,000 = $200,000.

2. By-law Coverage

If a building is damaged or destroyed by a fire, you may incur extra costs in repairing or re-constructing your building to meet the current by-law requirements of the City. For example, you may have to put in a sprinkler system, or reinforcement in respect of seismic or fire protection. These can be quite costly, particularly if your building is old. You are strongly recommended to take out this by-law coverage.

Many of the large Canadian P&C insurance companies announced recently that they would be adpoting the new version of the Insurance Bureau of Canada's (IBC) "advisory" standard form of the commercial general liability (CGL) policy effective January 2006.
This new policy wording will replace the current version which dates back to 1986.

Based on the official "COMPARISON BETWEEN CURRENT AND REVISED FORM" , change highlights - commercial general liabiltiy policy - IBC 2100, there are 23 changes on list.

Followings are some examples.

* The new CGL policy will incorporate some new exclusions, some of which were previously added by endorsements, such as asbestos, fungi or spores, data terrorism and abuse.

* some exclusions, definitions and conditions have been changed to reflect current trends in technology, jurisprudence and underwriting concerns.

* The new CGL policy imposes a new "general aggregate" limit which applies to premises and operations losses, personal and advertising injury and medical expenses. In the old CGL forms there was no general aggregate limit for such losses. This new general aggregate limit will apply separately from the current products/completed operations aggregate limit. The general aggregate limit does not apply to tenants' legal liability coverage which is provided on a limit "per premises" whith no aggregate.

It is disenchanting when you find out, contrary to your expectations, that a loss is not covered because of a policy exclusion. Policies contain many exclusions as a means of defining coverage intent.

But what may be even more disturbing is having your coverage denied because of a breach of a policy warranty; one that was never explained to you. Your policy may contain a warranty which outlines conditions precedent. What this means simply is you must meet certain obligations while the policy is in force in order to maintain coverage. A breach of a policy warranty could void your coverage ab initio (from the beginning) for a loss arising from this breach.

Two of the more common warranties found in property policies relate to theft, namely Burglary Alarm Warranty and Locked Vehicle Warranty. Theft is a typical covered peril. However, with the inclusion of these warranties, you must maintain prudent loss control measures to protect your property from theft in order to obtain coverage benefits . Let's look a little closer?

If you're running a business from your home, you may not have enough insurance to protect your business equipment. A typical homeowners policy provides only $2,500 coverage for business equipment, which is usually not enough to cover all of your business property. You may also need coverage for liability and lost income. Insurance companies differ considerably in the types of business operations they will cover under the various options they offer. So it's wise to shop around for coverage options as well as price.

Regardless of the type of policy you choose, if you're a professional working out of your home, you probably need professional liability insurance. Some types of in-home businesses, such as those that make or sell food products or sell home-made personal care products, may have to buy special policies.

To insure your business, you have three basic choices, depending on the nature of your business and the insurance company you buy it from. They are:

Professionals that operate their own businesses need professional liability insurance in addition to an in-home business or businessowners policy. This protects them against financial losses from lawsuits filed against them by their clients.

Professionals are expected to have extensive technical knowledge or training in their particular area of expertise. They are also expected to perform the services for which they were hired, according to the standards of conduct in their profession. If they fail to use the degree of skill expected of them, they can be held responsible in a court of law for any harm they cause to another person or business. When liability is limited to acts of negligence, professional liability insurance may be called "errors and omissions" liability.

Professional liability insurance is a specialty coverage. Professional liability coverage is not provided under homeowners endorsements, in-home business policies or businessowners policies (BOPs).

Business interruption insurance can be as vital to your survival as a business as fire insurance. Most people would never consider opening a business without buying insurance to cover damage due to fire and windstorms. But too many small businessowners fail to think about how they would manage if a fire or other disaster damaged their business premises so that they were temporarily unusable. Business interruption coverage is not sold separately. It is added to a property insurance policy or included in a package policy.

A business that has to close down completely while the premises are being repaired may lose out to competitors. A quick resumption of business after a disaster is essential.

Business interruption insurance compensates you for lost income if your company has to vacate the premises due to disaster-related damage that is covered under your property insurance policy, such as a fire. Business interruption insurance covers the profits you would have earned, based on your financial records, had the disaster not occurred. The policy also covers operating expenses, like electricity, that continue even though business activities have come to a temporary halt.

Make sure the policy limits are sufficient to cover your company for more than a few days. After a major disaster, it can take more time than many people anticipate to get the business back on track. There is generally a 48-hour waiting period before business interruption coverage kicks in.

The price of the policy is related to the risk of a fire or other disaster damaging your premises. All other things being equal, the price would probably be higher for a restaurant than a real estate agency, for example, because of the greater risk of fire. Also, a real estate agency can more easily operate out of another location.

When you want to buy some commercial insurance or business insurance, you will be asked to fill in a application form. Maybe two pages or three pages. There are a lot of questions.

The most important five questions will affect your premium.
1) The age of building you occupied.

2) The operation of your business.

3) Location of your business.

4) Annual Gross receipts.

5) Loss history of last five years.