Home Improvement

One of the most fascinating facts about the Irish Construction industry is that there is no legal requirement for a construction company to hold any from of construction insurance! In fact, the only insurance an Irish contractor is legally obliged to have is basic motor insurance on his/her motor vehicles!

Although there is no legal requirement under Irish law for a contractor to hold adequate Construction Insurance it is extremely vital that adequate cover is in place.

One of the most vital reasons is the high injury & mortality rate on Irish Construction sites. One major positive of the recent construction boom is the fatality per thousand ratio has fallen in recent years although it is still at an unacceptable level.

For example, in 2001 28% of workplace fatalities were Construction related and the Irish Construction industry is consistently second only to the Irish Agriculture& Forestry Industry.

As many primary contractors require their subcontractors to hold Construction Insurance the reality is that although Construction Insurance is not a legal requirement it is usually a prerequisite to obtaining work on the majority of the countries construction sites so the need for construction insurance is a necessity in everything but law!

Although Construction Insurance is quite a complex field the four main areas of cover are as follows:

• Public Liability Insurance

• Employers Liability Insurance

• Contractors All Risks

• Personal Accident

Public Liability Insurance

Public liability insurance [PL] provides cover in the event that the policyholder is sued by a third party who feels that they have suffered injury or loss as a result of the policyholders negligence (lack of care).

Consider the following examples where Public Liability Insurance will provide cover:

• You run a plumbing company. One day you are called to an office to sort out a problem in their kitchen. Accidentally, you burst a pipe, and flood the office. Your client then makes a claim against you for the hurt to their carpet and computer systems which have been hurt by the water.

• You are a building contractor. While walking along scaffolding one of your men drops a piece of equipment which falls to the street, injuring a passing pedestrian. The pedestrian makes a claim against your firm.

Obviously these are very simplified examples and we haven’t discussed the complexities of Products Liability/Liability Law/Duty of Care etc but it should provide a basic understanding of Public Liability Insurance.

Employers Liability Insurance

Employers Liability Insurance [EL] provides cover if any of your employees suffer physical injury or death, and it is proven that as an employer you acted negligently and subsequently could have prevented their loss. If they then choose to pursue you for compensation the insurer will pay the cost of the claim.

Consider the following examples where Employers Liability Insurance will provide cover:

• You run a carpentry company. One of your employees loses a finger while using a chop saw and decides to claim against you for his injury

• You are a scaffolding contractor and are erecting scaffolding around an apartment block. While erecting the scaffolding one of your employees falls and suffers severe bodily injury. He decides to claim against your firm.

Please note that Public & Employers Liability is offered ‘hand in hand’, that is when arranging construction insurance you will need to arrange both Public Liability & Employers Liability Insurance together [Also known as Combined Liability Insurance] as Employers Liability Insurance is not available on a ‘Stand Alone’ basis..

Contractors All Risks Insurance

Contractors All Risks insurance (also known as Contract Works insurance) is an insurance policy specially designed for builders and a number of other trades working at a contract site. Contractors All Risks insurance can include cover for contract works, own plant, hired-in plant and employee’s tools. The main part of the contractors all risks insurance is the contract works section which provides cover for the property being worked on (e.g. new house, etc.). But, cover for the existing property is excluded (e.g. the existing structure when building an extension) and must continue to be insured under its own insurance cover.

Consider the following examples where Contractors All Risks Insurance will provide cover:

• You are a building contractor and are building a house for resale. So far you have spent €200,000 on materials and labour. The property catches fire and is ruined before it has been completed. • You are groundwork’s contractor and are presently digging foundations for a new housing development. Naturally you leave your excavator on site until the contract is completed but one night your excavator is stolen.

Personal Accident Insurance

Personal Accident Insurance [Also known as Income Protection Insurance] is highly recommended for a sole traders, business partners and company directors as a combined liability policy does not cover any injury caused to a sole trader/business partner while it is extremely hard for a company director to sue his/her own company. A policy can be tailored to your exact needs and policies include a tax free monthly benefit, a lump sum [capital benefit] and hospital cash.

Consider the following examples where Personal Accident Insurance will provide cover:

• You’re a self employed carpenter with no employees. You cut your hand and are unable to work for eight months. As you have Personal Accident cover you receive a tax free benefit of €1,500 after one month and continue to receive this amount until you return to work.

• Although Personal Accident/Income Protection insurance is no substitute for full time earnings it will provide you with an income if you are unable to earn and it will reduce your financial worries at a time when your recovery should be your number one priority.

Machinery & Plant Insurance

Machinery & Plant Insurance is normally arranged on a case by case basis and provides Accidental Hurt Fire & Theft Cover on Machinery. This policy is normally taken by contractors who wish to cover a specific number of items.

Health & Safety Executive

In Ireland the HSE [Health & Safety Executive] have the ultimate authority over Construction Sites and have the ability to close a site if they feel it is a safety hazard. Their primary initiative is the ‘Safe Pass’ – a one day site safety training programme.

Who needs to do Safe Pass awareness training?

Safe Pass is a one-day safety awareness programme aimed at general construction workers, craft workers and “on site” security personnel in the construction industry. The aims of the programme are to:

• raise the standard of safety awareness in the construction industry

• ensure that site personnel after completing the one day awareness programme can make a positive contribution to the prevention of accidents and ill health while working on the site

• maintain a register of personnel who have received training

• provide participants with a FAS Safe Pass registration card, indicating that the holder has attended a formal course in health and safety awareness

Under the Safety Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) Regulations 2006 Safe Pass / Safety Awareness Programmes applies to -

(a) craft and general construction workers,

(b) persons undertaking on-site security work, and

(c) persons or classes of persons as may be prescribed by the Minister.

For more information on Irish Site Safety please visit the website of the Health & Safety Authority www.hsa.ie while for more information relating to Irish Construction Insurance please visit the website of Keystone Insurance www.keystone.ie, Ireland’s premier supplier of Construction Insurance

It has been found out from top leading comparison sites that when you are taking home insurance policy you do not place only the cost into account but you should also consider other vital factors, as it has been learned that customers may be putting themselves at risk of being under-insured if what they consider is only the price rather than reading the small prints making sure for what you are covered. Instead of the insurance companies, some times customers even find themselves settling bills after an accident.

The pay-back rate is very vital considering some financial uncertainties; not withstanding people need to consider seriously that at the event of any happenstance and there is no adequate insurance coverage, it may be much more expensive to recover from the situation. This now made the comparison sites and a well loved high street building society inform people thereby making them know why they need to get the full benefits of their home and renters insurance coverage. The comparison sites concluded that they would recommend home owners to compare the home insurance policies and whatever their coverage is before making the choice of taking the cheapest that can be found.

Even in the United Kingdom, homes that make cheaper rates (instead of quality) their main focus could also be at risk of being under-insured. Analysis now shows that there is no one perfect policy that satisfies all needs; truth is you get the best value for what you pay and not for all.

Where To Get the Best Service Online? Here: Preferred Home Insurance Deal

This article is suitable for people seeking home insurance coverage or people who already have but want to lower their rates. If you can know a few points, you would certainly lower your rates.

If you are serious about lowering your rates, then you must get as much knowledge as you can on the issue of home insurance coverage.

To be sure you are adequately covered, yo must correctly value your home and other items in it which you are insuring. If you do not have a excellent thought of the amount of coverage you need, it would be pretty hard to get a low rate.

I say this because only after knowing the exact amount of coverage you need would you be able to find out which insurer would give you the best rate.

Certainly there are lots of factors that affect your rates. Amongst them is the location of your home, how you likely you are to make a claim and how much quotes you compared before taking out a policy.

One rule you must never forget is this. Never in your bid to lower your rates, compromise the coverage of your home. Always make sure your home is adequately covered then look for ways to lower your rates.

You can lower your rates by doing all or any of the following.

Installing security devices in your home.
Installing dead bolt locks in doors.
Adding burglar proofs to your doors and windows.
Installing sprinklers.
Prevailing on your neighborhood to form a vigilante group.
Having someone at home most of the time.
Paying your premium yearly rather than monthly.
Choosing a higher deductible.

These are a few points that can help lower your rates. With more studies, you could find more ways to lower your home insurance rates.

Finally, you can no possibly get a low rate if you have not compared quotes. Visit at least 4 or 5 quotes comparison sites and get quotes after filling the form you would see on their site. You would get a number of quotes. look at the quotes with a view to finding the most affordable home insurance rates. This is a very tested way of getting reduced rates.

Construction contractor insurance is must to insure safety in the challenging job of a construction contractor. Construction contractors are involved in building trade and responsible for the construction of a commercial or residential building. There can be lot of risks in the construction contractor work such as the contractor is liable to pay for the structural faults such as wall collapse at the construction site. There are number of websites which offer insurance coverage to construction contractors at competitive rates.

The best part of opting to the online construction contractor insurance coverage is that it ensures cent percent compensation to the construction contractors in the following areas:

Builder’s risk

Demolition liability insurance

Professional indemnity insurance cover

Public liability coverage

Employers liability policy

Accidental death of the worker due to construction default such as wall collapse

Construction Contractors Insurance covers nearly all the losses that are likely to incur while accomplishing the challenging task of deciding construction criterion of a building or house. The quotation service of online insurance website is thoroughly regulated and certified by financial services authority thereby ensuring construction contractors’ reliable insurance package. Online insurance providers are widely famed for giving quick and efficient construction contractor insurance claim handling services. The main benefits of opting online insurance providers are as follows:

With online insurance, one can get extensive and inclusive insurance coverage with no hidden costs

The online insurance providers give worldwide insurance coverage to the clients

The clients are offered with easy to apply and easy to renew insurance policy

The insurance websites have a team of skilled, certified and experienced solicitors having sound expertise in providing best insurance deal to the construction contractors. Online insurance providers are best source available to get insurance coverage in a time saving and hassle free manner. The customer care officials of the online insurance providers are available 24 hours to solve the probable queries of the customer’s such as how to get maximum compensation in construction contractor insurance. It is beneficial for all the construction contractors to insure their jobs by opting to online insurance construction contractor insurance coverage.

Are you a first time home owner? I must first congratulate you on this fantastic stride and achievement. Have you had your home fully insured? I despise to cut small your feeling of achievement. But you could loose it all. You need affordable home insurance.

After all the effort you place into getting your home and the emotional toll it has taken on you, you shouldn’t wait for anyone to remind or pressure you to insure your home. Of course if you got your home through mortgage, you must have had it insured as part of the requirements by your mortgage financiers. Do you reckon they are foolish to make this mandatory? Take a cue from them and protect your investment.

Some of you are quite satisfied with the coverage your mortgage provider has insisted you get and you reckon that is enough for you. Is it really enough?

What are the valuable things in your home? Is it just the building? your mortgage provider would ensure you fully insure the building itself so that if anything were to happen, they would not have lost their investment. But reckon? What happens to your possessions? The valuables that you have inside the house that has nothing to do with the mortgage provider? Are you ready to just loose them?

If you have been prevailed upon by the mortgage providers to have the building insured, you should have deduced that this is vital and then make sure that your valuables are fully covered so that in the event of a peril, you too would not have lost your investment.

The challenge of a lot of people now is the cost of home insurance coverage. If you want to reduce the rates you pay, you can if you note some things.

In getting your policy, when questioned to make a choice of the deductible you would want to pay, choose as high as you can because the higher the deductible you choose, the lower your rates become. The reverse of this is also right.

Invest in security gadgets that can improve the safety of your home. Anything that increases this, acts as a means of lowering your rates.

You can also invest in anti fire devices like smoke detectors, sprinklers etc to also further reduce your rates.

Before doing all of the above, you should have taken time to really shop for the best insurance deal you can get. To do this, get as many quotes as you can. These quotes help you make the right choice.

The simplest way to get these quotes is by visiting quotes comparison sites. Visit a minimum of 4 for best results.