GENERAL INSURANCE BLOG

Today, the number of cases with construction workers being a victim of such accidental risks is increasing. There isn't much awareness around it to make every person understand its importance. Physical loss of engineering insurance includes protection from machinery breakdown, machinery loss, contractor's risk, etc. The major focus is on covering losses that are unforeseen and unexpected. This is also called machinery breakdown insurance.

In the workplace, regardless of the precautions taken, it's always possible that there are unexpected and unfortunate accidents that might put you at risk. This is why you need the physical loss of engineering insurance.

Types of engineering risks include -

• Stock deterioration - Stock deterioration includes the depletion of goods kept in cold storage. This is covered if there's a breakdown of refrigerating machinery. It's similar to machinery breakdown insurance and can be seen as a subset of the same.

This type of insurance may benefit you if you're owners or users of cold storage houses, food preservation industry, and meat and fish processing industries, chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

• Movement of Machinery - This insurance covers the damage of machinery during specified operations. This type is important as a lot of machinery is heavy and not always easy to move accordingly. There can be damage during such movement even after the said precaution is taken. This type also often includes incidental storage in transit and moving and unloading to the work position.
• Computer equipment - Computer equipment insurance covers loss of or damage to all computer equipment. Additionally, provides cost required to reinstate lost records. These apply to almost every firm today that can make use of this insurance. Especially with data at threat, companies must safeguard themselves and have an insurance plan to turn to in such a situation.
• Unexpected damage - This policy covers damage that is unexpected and could be due to internal defects or external unfortunate situations. This insurance covers accidental damage most of the time, but it's advisable to check the documents and peculiarities before you go ahead.
• All Risk Cover - The all-risk cover, usually known as the Contractor's all risk, covers all of the above insurances. Usually, the threat of a single kind seems more than the rest, and hence particular insurance opts-in isolation. To easily define it, it covers all risks related to construction.

Here are the reasons why engineering insurance is important

• Machinery breakdown - This is one of the overlooked factors. Be it machines on the ground or even computers; your insurance must cover not only the cost of damage done to the computer installation but also for all the data that was lost. You can opt for machinery breakdown insurance as well.
• Risks of explosions - Such an unsafe work environment comes with its risks and troubles. Insurance will make it one step closer to safety, and you know you're covered in times of crisis.
• If you're in a risky job like that and have the uncertainty of consequences if something unfortunate happens, engineering insurance is your go-to remedy. Insurance covers can be generally applied to, but every insurance does not cover it all in detail. You can always choose multiple insurances, and that's completely alright. But you may need to understand something very important, at a workplace like a construction site; you ought to know that engineering insurance cannot be compromised.

Health insurance is a type of policy that offers coverage for medical as well as surgical expenses incurred by the policyholder when they are hospitalized during the policy period. Most of the health insurances today provide coverage of daycare hospitalization, pre-hospitalization as well as post-hospitalization and the expenses incurred during these periods are either reimbursed to the insured individual or are paid to the healthcare provider directly.

There are many health insurance providers in India which provide numerous affordable health insurance plans for individuals and also for the whole family. Such health insurance plans have many different benefits, and each plan provides different types of coverage depending on the premium amount of the insurance.

Some of the common benefits that are given in most of the healthcare plans are: -

• One of the biggest benefits of a healthcare plan is the cashless settlement of claims. Most of the times the insurance provider will directly transfer the claim amount to the healthcare provider instead of reimbursing the amount to the insured individual.
• Most of the insurance providers cover almost all the major hospitals of the country, and you can use your health card to claim the benefits of your insurance at the hospitals covered by your insurance. There is almost 50% to 75% coverage of the major hospitals in the country with all the big names included in the list.
• You get the premium amount of the insurance tailored according to your needs. You can get the plan for an individual or for all the members of your family, and the premium will be decided based on the age group of all the members of the family. You can also get different insurances for all of your family members if you require.
• Once you buy an affordable health insurance plan, you also get the benefit of free medical checkup for every claim-free year. You can use this benefit to get a complete body checkup.
• In case of a medical emergency that arises suddenly, it can take away all your financial savings for the treatment of the individual very quickly. If you have health insurance, you will have a peace of mind because you will be able to provide financially for the treatment of the particular disease or problem.
• There are many different insurance plans available depending on the maximum entry age of the individual they allow for the insurance. Many insurance providers set a maximum entry age limit of 80 years while there are some insurance providers that have plans with no upper limit on the maximum entry age.
• Nowadays, you can buy an affordable health insurance plan online and pay the premiums online as well. You don’t need to visit the office of the insurance provider to buy the insurance, just compare all the available health insurance plans and buy the one that suits your needs the best. The healthcare plans are active for 1 year, and after that period, you need to renew it. This renewal can be easily done online as well.
• The health care plans are available with a range of coverage that starts from 5 lakhs and can reach to crores of rupees. Choose the one that is most affordable for you and you will have to pay the premium for the plan accordingly.

You need to consider some things before you decide on buying a particular healthcare plan of which financial comes at first. You have to pay the premium yearly, and that premium should be such that it does not cause a problem to you financially so proper care should be taken while buying a healthcare plan.

Fire insurance is a contractual agreement between the policyholder and the insurer wherein the insurer in return for consideration or premium agrees to indemnify the policyholder or the insured person for the financial loss that he/she may suffer due to destruction of or damage to property or goods by fire during a specific period. You can buy as well as renew a fire insurance policy in India by online as well as offline ways.

The purchase of fire insurance helps to cover the cost of replacement, repair or reconstruction of the property, but fire insurance is generally not valid in case of war, nuclear risk or any such similar peril. Buying fire insurance is always a good idea because your property is your investment and buying a fire insurance policy will help you recover the damage and loss caused due to fire on your property.

Most of the policies offered by the different insurance providers cover the physical damage caused to your property by the following perils: -

• Fire
• Lightning
• Riot and Strike
• Earthquake, wind and storm
• Explosion
• Smoke damage
• Sprinkler Damage
• Damage due to aircraft
• Bush fire
• Subsidence, rockslides or landslides
• Impact damage which may occur due to the impact of road vehicles or animals or rails.

There are various types of fire insurance policies that are available in India, depending on the coverage requirement of the individual. The type of fire insurance policy in India you may choose also depends on whether the asset which is being insured is a fixed asset or a non-fixed asset. Depending on the type of asset being insured, insurance providers have different types of fire insurance policies available. The types of policies for fixed assets such as homes are: -

• Replacement Value Policy - The asset which has been insured is replaced if it is damaged by fire wherein the insurance company pays the replacement value of the damaged property.
• Reinstatement Value Policy - This is almost similar to the Replacement Value Policy but with an added clause that the insurance company will replace the damaged property to its original condition before the occurrence of the peril. This policy applies to fixed assets like buildings.

There are many different types of policies for non-fixed assets, such as: -

• Specific Policy - This policy covers the loss up to a specific amount which is less than the real value of the property.
• Comprehensive Policy - Also called ‘All in One’ policy, this policy covers loss due to fire, theft, burglary as well as other third-party damages.
• Valued Policy - Under this policy, the insured person can recover a fixed amount which was agreed to at the time the policy was bought.
• Floating Policy - This policy covers loss due to fire to property belonging to the same person but at different places.
• Valuable Policy - The sum insured is not decided at the time of buying the policy but instead, the claim amount is calculated at the time of loss.
• Consequential Loss Policy - This policy covers the loss in profit caused due to disruption of the business by damage due to fire.

Buying a fire insurance policy for your house or your goods is always a good decision, but you must buy a policy which covers the risk that you face and understand the nature of the asset that you want to insure and then buy an insurance policy accordingly.

Fire and related events can cause very big losses, and they have become one of the biggest causes of losses in recent times. The damage due to fire can include non-movable assets like homes and buildings as well as movable assets like goods. To ensure you are protected against any unforeseen damage of your property by fire or any fire-related event, you can buy fire insurance for your property from any of the fire insurance companies in India. Fire insurance involves many things and some things must be taken care of while buying fire insurance or renewing your insurance so that you need to pay a lesser premium as well as while filing claims so that you get the best deals.

Things covered under fire insurance: -

Fire, explosion and implosion Lightning Damage due to aircraft Strikes and riots Rockslides and landslides Impact damage Malicious damage Bush fire Smoke damage Storm, typhoon Sprinkler damage Earthquake

Things which fire insurance companies in India do not cover: -

Perils like war, civil war, invasion and similar events Rebellion or Martial law and similar events Underground fires and losses due to that Spontaneous Combustion Losses due to pollution or contamination Theft related losses occurring during or after the fire Consequential losses

What should be the policy amount of your fire insurance?

In most cases, the total sum for which you are buying the fire insurance should be equal to the total cost needed to rebuild or reinstate the property and the professional fees involved along with the charges for the removal of debris.

What is the difference between Replacement Value Policy and Reinstatement Value Policy for Fixed Assets?

In Replacement Value Policy, the insurance company pays the cost of replacing the complete asset that has been damaged or lost due to fire and related events whereas in case of a Reinstatement Value Policy; the insurance company pays the cost to replace the damaged property to its original condition it was in before the loss due to fire. While Replacement Value Policy can apply to other assets, the Reinstatement Value Policy is only applicable to buildings and no other assets.

When buying a fire insurance policy from fire insurance companies in India, you must consider the following things:

The type of risk that the policy covers and if the risk covered by the policy matches the risk you face for your property. The nature of the asset you want to insure because there are different types of policies available for fixed assets and many other different types of policies available for non-fixed assets. Understand the coverage duration of your policy and when to renew the policy.

What information you should get from the fire insurance company while buying the policy?

Premium Payable The insurance cancellation and refund policy Period of coverage Scope of policy coverage Non-standard exclusions Claims reporting procedures

What things are considered to calculate the premium?

The insurer uses many different kinds of data to come up with a final number which you need to pay as premium annually:

The type of policy The type of risk or risks covered The total sum insured The total value of the asset being insured How the asset being insured is used by the owner of the asset The expected risks that can damage the property being insured Whether the person has taken a policy extension or not

How to claim if your asset is damaged?

You need to immediately contact your insurer as soon as your insured property is damaged. The insurer may appoint an independent loss adjuster to take care of your claim, and you will be required to fill a form to start the claim process. The insurer will undertake proper investigation and will then accept the claim if everything is fine.