Most notifiable disease extensions cover specific diseases that will be named in the cover. These are diseases that are well known and understood. If the policy does not allow for all human infectious diseases, then cover is unlikely to apply.

Some notifiable disease extensions are more general and do not specify certain diseases. In these cases, business interruption cover for COVID-19 may apply if COVID-19 is present at the premises and all policy conditions are met.

If you are unsure about what your policy covers your business for, check with us.

Some coverage may exist if the business has purchased a ‘non-damage, denial of access’ extension to a business interruption policy. Again, purchase of these extensions tends to be rare, and this is not generally covered under standard business interruption policies.

Generally, ‘denial of access’ cover applies to cordoned off areas and the loss of trade resulting from a denial of access to the premises (e.g. as a result of a police cordon). If a business is forced to close or is told to shut by an appropriate authority or is cordoned off, this could trigger a claim under a ‘non-damage, denial of access’ business interruption extension if the infectious disease cover is unspecified or if it includes COVID-19.

A typical Corporate Travel Insurance policy will provide cover for cancellation costs where the travel destination has reached DFAT Advice of Level 4 – Do Not Travel and was not at this level at the time of booking.

You can check the current DFAT Advice Levels at www.smartraveller.gov.au, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trades website.

Fear of travel is not a covered event under a Travel Insurance policy. This includes travel to areas that have known cases of COVID-19 but have not yet reached DFAT Advice Level 4.

The coverage provided on each policy and the position taken by different insurers can vary. If you have concerns, it’s a good idea to contact us.

Important Notice: COVID-19 became a known risk on 24 January 2020, and as such, some insurers may look to decline claims arising from COVID-19 if the trip was arranged on or after 24 January 2020. Whilst not all insurers are taking this position, it should be taken into consideration when making future bookings.

Yes, under specific circumstances.

According to the State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA) COVID-19 can be covered under Section 4 of the Workers Compensation Act 1987 as a disease injury. A claim would be successful where the virus is contracted during the course of employment and the employment is found to be the main contributing factor to contracting the disease.

Proof that employment is the main contributing factor is likely to be difficult to determine and each claim would need to be considered on its individual merits and evidence.

Employers are advised to take all appropriate preventative measures to eliminate the risk of employees contracting COVID-19 in the workplace, as with any other workplace health and safety risk.

Where employees are potentially exposed to the virus as part of their employment, employers should provide guidance and assistance to the employee to make a claim for workers compensation.

Should you have further enquiries about Workers Compensation or managing WHS risk in respect to COVID-19, contact us.

While your employee may not be working on your premises, it is still your responsibility to provide a
safe work environment. Therefore, if an employee sustains an injury in the course of their work while
at home, it is likely the injury will be covered by your Workers Compensation policy. Bear in mind
that psychological injury is also claimable under workers compensation.

These considerations only add to the importance of carrying out a safety assessment and continuing
to check in with employees about their mental health and satisfaction, as well as ensuring that you
have appropriate workers compensation insurance in place.

It can at times be very difficult and complicated to prove the injury sustained by the employee was
suffered whilst undertaking work related activities. We recommend you advise employees work from
home arrangements are “temporary” (if this is the case) and normal work practices will resume
when possible. Ensure you have a work from home policy in place and employees are made aware of
it’s content before commencing work from home.

Firstly, in Australia, there are certain people who have the right to request flexible working arrangements and whose employer may only deny such a request on reasonable business grounds.

Under fair work arrangements, an employee is eligible to request a flexible working arrangement if they have worked for the same employer for 12 months and if they meet any of the following criteria:

• They are a carer
• They are 55 or older
• They have a disability
• They are a parent or are responsible for the care of a child of a certain age range
• They are a victim of domestic or family violence, or are caring for a member of their immediate family who is suffering from domestic or family violence.

When it comes to the physical health and safety of employees who work from home, it’s important to note that you, as an employer, bear the same responsibility as you would if the employee were in an office environment.

Prior to going ahead with a work-from-home arrangement, employers should be sure that the work area at home meets OHS standards, which would involve a safety assessment of the work area prior to the employee working from home.

For more information read our article What you need to know about employees working from home.

In general, the cover provided by cyber insurance policies will be unaffected, and policies will cover working from home/remote working. Cyber incidents such as phishing emails or inadvertent data leak will continue to be covered as normal. Some insurers may require their policyholders to notify them, so it is prudent to contact us to check your cyber insurance cover is still adequate.

Businesses should continue to follow the advice produced by the Australian Cyber Security Centre to ensure cybersecurity remains at a high level and IT systems are protected during these difficult times.

Business insurance helps to protect business owners and independent professionals against everyday risks, such as accidents in the workplace and associated public liability, stock or premises damage, legal costs and cyber-attacks. There are also some types of insurance that a business is legally obliged to have, such as Workers Compensation and Professional Indemnity.

Even in a time when a business may be unable to operate as usual due to the impacts of COVID-19, it’s important that businesses remain covered for standard risks, many of which may be more likely when the property is unoccupied, such as vandalism of the property, theft of stock or equipment, or even loss of information or damage to IT systems and networks.

It would be a terrible outcome for a business without adequate insurance cover to experience significant damage while temporarily closed, which would delay their ability to get back up and running once permitted to do so.

If a business are required to temporarily close due to government COVID-19 restrictions, selected insurers have introduced degrees of flexibility based on owners being able to evidence that robust risk management and security provisions are in place.

Vacancy coverage limitations may exist within your property policy and these need to be addressed with the carrier as soon as possible.

However, the lifting of travel restrictions will mean that in most cases you are able to resume checking on your unoccupied premises regularly and carrying out normal risk management processes and you should do so unless prevented by any government or local restrictions.

If you are unable to visit your premises, or there are any specific requirements as part of your insurance contract that you are unable or unlikely to be able to comply with (such as on-site security), speak to your broking team.

As the Government ease and remove any lockdowns, a number of businesses are being permitted to reopen. If you are keeping your premises closed, you must get in touch and let us know immediately.

We may need to reassess the empty buildings/unoccupancy cover part of your existing insurance policy, which was originally extended at the start of the pandemic when the enforced lockdown was in place.

By not informing us could leave your business unprotected in the event of a claim.

Subject to terms, conditions and exclusions of the policy, there is a strong position that the policy would respond.

Unfortunately, we are now seeing some new & renewed Liability policies having a Coronavirus Exclusion.

There may be some coverage under certain environmental insurance policies for deep cleaning or decontamination of business premises, but each policy is unique and needs to be individually reviewed.

Before engaging a cleaning services provider, we recommend that you get in touch to confirm whether costs can be recovered under your policy.