Past Event
By: MIASF Staff
Date posted: Jan 27, 2021 Wed
MIASF hosted a virtual insurance panel on January 20th to discuss the types of insurance and exposure that are of interest and concern to marine businesses. Moderated by Phil Purcell, the panel included Jill Levy of Tanenbaum Harber who, with over 30 years of experience represented the insurance agents’ point of view; Ian Greenway of LIG Marine Managers provided extensive Longshore coverage knowledge and is an insurance broker; and Kristina Hebert of Ward’s Marine Electric, who served as the voice of the contractor and recapped the association’s history with the fight to exempt recreational marine from Longshore exposure because of her long involvement with the issue. After the panel discussion, Duncan Smith of Smith Advocacy Group updated the group on the ongoing legislative work to ease and more clearly define the responsibilities of Longshore.
Highlights of the discussions included the fact that many general liability policies have an exemption clause for work on or near water. The business that takes advantage of the workman’s compensation exemption is unable to get Longshore coverage because it is a requirement of Longshore that the applicant has worker’s comp coverage.
The liability exposure of a facility (boatyard or marina) once they permit a contractor access to the property without the proper coverage falls to the facility. This helps to explain why yards are very diligent with the insurance coverage requirement.
The cost and types of coverage vary depending on the individual business. It is important to have a knowledgeable agent familiar with the service provider segment of the marine industry. To manage some costs there is an “if any” Longshore option which requires detailed records of when the company works on a Longshore qualified job. An annual audit is part of this type of coverage.
The panel provided solid information which was helpful to those that attended. For those who had a scheduling conflict, the video of the presentation is accessible on the Videos page of the MIASF website: https://www.miasf.org/videos/industry.