Commercial Insurance Brokers: directory of firms

Employers must take out workers compensation insurance from an authorised insurer to cover employees who are injured or become sick because of work. The laws vary in each state and territory, and the regulator in your jurisdiction can tell you how to comply and where to buy cover.

The legally required covers depend on the business: workers compensation if you have employees, third party personal injury cover if you use motor vehicles, which is often part of the registration fee, and public liability in some states and territories for certain occupations. Some businesses must hold liability cover before they can legally operate.

Beyond that, requirements often come from counterparties rather than from law. Landlords, principals, head contractors and clients routinely specify minimum public liability or professional indemnity limits in contracts. A broker should be reading those contracts, not just quoting a standard package.

AFCA's jurisdiction over general insurance for small business is limited by product type. It cannot consider cover in relation to contractors all risks, fidelity guarantee, legal liability including public liability and products liability, professional indemnity, or industrial special risks in respect of a small business insurance product.

It can consider complaints about computer and electronic breakdown, fire or accidental damage, glass, general property, loss of profits and business interruption, machinery breakdown, money, theft, farm insurance and medical indemnity insurance, and it can consider a broker's conduct in following instructions or arranging the policy. AFCA does not consider workers compensation complaints at all.

The work starts with disclosure: what the business does, where, with what equipment, under what contracts, and what would happen if each of those stopped. An incomplete picture produces a policy that looks cheap until it is tested.

From there a broker decides what to package and what to write standalone. business.gov.au suggests asking insurers whether they offer packages tailored to your business type, since these can be cheaper than separate policies, while noting that management liability in particular is complex and usually sold as a package. Set the renewal timetable early so the program is re-marketed rather than rolled over.

business.gov.au gives two checks for business insurance, and both are quick. Find an authorised general insurer on APRA's register of general insurance, which lists institutions licensed under the Insurance Act 1973 and shows any conditions on an authorisation. Check the insurance broker's licence on ASIC's Professional Registers.

Also check the professional association for your industry. business.gov.au notes that associations may offer industry-specific indemnity insurance at a much lower cost than the open market, which is worth pricing against a broker's quote.

Commercial brokers are usually remunerated by commission from the insurer, sometimes by a fee agreed with you, and sometimes by both. The Financial Services Guide is where that is disclosed, and asking whether the commission differs between the insurers being quoted is a reasonable question.

Premium is driven by the occupation and its claims history, turnover and payroll, the limits and excesses chosen, the location and construction of premises, and the contractual obligations you are insuring to. Packages can reduce cost, but only where the package genuinely matches the risk rather than leaving a gap you will find at claim time.