Reports of a crisis in the insurance industry, with companies supposedly not giving cover to high risk industries such as construction, are greatly exaggerated says the Electrical Contractors' Association.
David Pollock, director of the ECA, believes that the rumours are down to scaremongering. He says: "Since the collapse of Independent Insurance last June and the events of 11 September, there has been a distinct hardening of the insurance market accompanied by an increase in premiums. However, this is due more to the correction of previous overcapacity in the market than a crisis in the insurance industry. Premiums were already rising even before the World Trade Center tragedy."

Pollock believes that contractors who manage health and safety properly and develop a good working relationship with their insurers should not have a problem obtaining cover.

Richard Forrest Smith, business development manager of ECIC, the insurance subsidiary of the ECA says: "The insurance market is difficult but certainly not in crisis. Contractors need to be prepared to pay more realistic premiums following the underpricing of recent years.

"As a specialist insurance company, ECIC is strongly committed to the construction industry sector and it will remain so, but we are working in a different market to that of the late 1990s."

Source

Electrical and Mechanical Contractor