Personal Accident insurance and employers obligations

It goes without saying that any business owner needs to ensure they have the right insurance protection for the business activities they undertake. Some insurance cover is compulsory in the United Kingdom, such as Employers Liability under the Employers Liability Act 1969. For any riding school, Public Liability is also a compulsory cover under the Riding Establishment Act 1970.

However, there are many other insurance products that also protect equestrian businesses, their owners and their employees that are not mandatory. Ultimately the choice to buy additional products comes down to the risk appetite of the business, and, unfortunately, in many small businesses in particular, cost is understandably another significant factor in whether or not a business is able to afford to buy extra cover.

So what obligations does an employer have?

Essentially, employers must protect the welfare of their employees and must do whatever is reasonably practicable to achieve this. This means the employer must make sure that workers are protected from anything that may cause harm, and must control and manage the risks to health that could arise in the workplace. Employers must provide adequate training on how to conduct tasks safely and must give information on risks in the workplace. Risk assessments and inductions are an important example of the practical application of this.

When dealing with equestrian risks, it is even more essential to deal with health and safety in the workplace effectively due to the high degree of manual work involved and also the risks involved when dealing with an unpredictable large animal. Most businesses are fully aware of the importance of risk assessments and of documenting risks and employee competencies but unfortunately even with the most stringent health and safety procedures in place, accidents still can and do happen.

So what happens if a business does everything right and yet still faces a claim against the business for a catastrophic injury that has occurred in the course of an employee’s duties? Morally, an employer may feel responsible for an injury, for example if an employee of a racehorse trainer has a fall on the gallops and is left with a permanent disability. However, legally, if the business did everything right and the injury was caused by a freak accident then potentially the injured party may not receive any compensation from an employers liability claim against the employer.

Many Corporate businesses will buy private medical and life insurance as an employment benefit to protect their employees should they suffer illness or accident during their term of employment. However, in the Equestrian world this is far less common and despite the fact that the chance of injury is relatively high, it is estimated that less than 15% of racehorse trainers have any additional cover in place to protect their employees should a catastrophic accident arise. This figure is even lower when considering riding schools and livery yards.

There are insurance policies on the market designed to protect employees in this type of scenario. Group Personal Accident policies can often bridge the gap between expensive full private medical insurance or life insurance and no insurance at all. Personal accident insurance is a no fault insurance policy and a benefit is paid in the event that an insured person dies or is permanently injured. Additional optional cover can be purchased for extensions such as dental expenses and temporary disablement.

It is important to note the distinction between Employers Liability cover and Group Personal Accident insurance. The former provides protection to the business for their legal liabilities to an employee in the event of the negligence of the business. It is not designed to protect the employee in the event that the business fulfils their duty of care but an accident still occurs, i.e when there is no legal liability and an injury has happened as a result of a genuine accident and no one was at fault.

Employers should consider all options on the market, but equally employees may want to protect themselves by taking out their own individual policy for accidents that may prevent them from working. Individual rider policies are available for people working in the equestrian industry, which can be invaluable especially if a rider is self-employed.