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Hello everyone,

I'm trying to find a company who will provide the public liability insurance I require as part of my DOC access arrangement, does anyone have any experience with insuring one-man operations (with dredge)

Names of any companies and ballpark figures of how much you have to pay would be very appreciated, I have spoken to a few of the larger companies but they seem to have very little experience or are very reluctant to undewrite such a small operation,

regards

johnsmith

cheers bud

its the rural fires cover that's the killer, don't know about you guys but mine requires 1mil fire 1mil liability standard policies only cover 250k rural fire. I went through AON bloody helpful the best deal they found was NZI at 880 plus 100 fee for the broker next was vero at 1000 + 100. another broker tried but best he could find was $2400 !!!! in saying that the AON broker required heaps of info and photos as many companies hadn't heard of a suction dredge.

if you only require 250k fire the premium will only be around $400. also if you are planning on working other areas of the country then be sure to list them as the cover I had was very area specific specific areas of waterways. and if you know someone else with a claim its cheaper to set up a company involving both of you and the companys liability insurance cover both claims then it would be half price.

hi golddigger, got it through AON in gore. took him a good week or so to get and had to go in numerous times with more info. the more you can supply them the better the deal must help change their minds about risk or something.

mintcar, I found out about that last year, its only for recreational purposes. insurers see dredging as commercial even if its a little 2 inch dredge so it wont cover you for dredging.

Cheap Company on the Coast, tell me more please, perhaps we can get a package deal

Crombie Lockwood in Queenstown might be able to help with PL insurance. I enquired at the start of the season and didn't go ahead with it but i know they have looked at this for another client. not sure on figures as didn't get to that point. will check who it is actually with.

i also have PL insurance for my businesses. its a bit dodgy as you have to make sure you're covered for all scenarios. and you have to remember that your PL insurance only applies to your core business activities. thus i can not expect my business's PL insurance to cover gold mining and vice versa.

personally i would seek a provider that actually provides for gold miners. then they will know what it is about and what needs covered. i get the feeling many insurance providers will jump at the chance of securing any insurance business. and perhaps not know the ins and outs of what is specifically needed for gold mining.

governmental bodies such as orc and doc and linz will probably give you an indication of what is required by them. you also need to ensure you have enough cover to keep each party happy. for my business i have 2 million cover just in case of accident. i take photos of people so worse case would be death but in reality maybe someone might fall off a chair. hasn't happened so far in all these years.

i think as long as you keep all you r interested parties happy you're probably right. wouldn't get more than you need as it will cost money of course. and i would make sure to question anything that is pure stupidity. key cover would include of course stuff like fires, which i think is prob the most impt part of the cover. and any members of the public getting injured, by your vehicle, equipment, your workings, etc.

not sure too much on the gear insurance side. i would like to think I'm covered but i would presume any gear lost to the water would be hard to recover costs on. excesses might be up there if you're just a small time operation. same for theft if you leave your gear out there. bit of a dream to get cover for that. guess it all depends on how nice your insurer is.