What is School Insurance and How Insurance Brokers Help?
Schools are complex organizations where multiple parties including students, teachers, parents, and board of directors interact on a regular basis. As such, securing the right school insurance that benefits all parties involved for your school is no easy feat.
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Because of all these moving parts interacting regularly, schools are vulnerable to a wide host of risks and perils just like normal companies, including natural disasters, cyber attacks, legal liabilities, property damage and many more.
In this article, we will guide you through the essential benefits in school insurance, as well as why it is more beneficial to secure school insurance via the service of a broker.
What is School Insurance
School insurance is a collection of insurance policies that are designed to protect schools from the potential risks and liabilities that a school may face due to their unique position of having multiple moving parts and parties in their daily operations.
Essential School Insurance Benefits
While all schools are unanimously faced with a diverse range of risks, the exact scope of coverage needed varies between different educational institutions. This is why many insurers allow schools the flexibility and autonomy to structure their own insurance policy.
That said, there are still some major, common risks faced by virtually all schools, which make some school insurance solutions more essential than others. Below are some examples of them.
Property Insurance
Property insurance protects the school’s buildings and the contents within (e.g. teaching equipment, furniture) in case of unforeseen damage/loss caused by an insured ‘peril’, such as fire or storms. It is arguably the most important form of insurance for schools.
When securing school insurance, you should check the property insurance details and coverage carefully to ascertain whether the limit is enough to cover the real financial risks involved in damage/loss to a school’s premises as well as costly equipment.
Public Liability Insurance
Public liability insurance protects the Board of Management against legal liabilities arising from accidental bodily injury to third parties (other than employees) and damage/destruction to their property. For this kind of insurance, schools may have to pay for an excess before getting any claims.
Worker’s Compensation and Employer’s Liability Insurance
Similar to normal companies, schools need to secure worker’s compensation insurance to cover any illness/accidents arising during the course of employment, including the cost of medical care and loss of salary.
Employer’s liability insurance covers the liability of an employer for bodily injury, illness, and death arising at the workplace.
For example, a cupboard accidentally falls on a teacher and they decide to file a compensation claim against the school. If the school is found liable, the policy will cover the compensation amount as well as the legal expenses associated with the lawsuit.
It is advisable for schools to seek insurance professionals’ advice on the ideal coverage limit and whether an amount more than the legally required minimum is needed.
Cyber Insurance
Cyber insurance is a must-have policy as it offers peace of mind in the event of a data breach. Generally, it includes benefits for cyber extortion, investigation, notification costs to customers (e.g. students and parents) following a breach, and more.
Due to the large amount of sensitive data increasingly stored in school computer systems, such as personal information and credit card data, educational institutes are particularly prone and often targets of hacker attacks.
Benefits of Securing School Insurance From a Broker
Given the wide array of benefit options in school insurance, it is a smart move to engage the service of a professional insurance broker, like Pacific Prime, to guide you through the process. A good broker will conduct an onsite visit and ask you questions about your school’s operations.
Having identified your risks and needs, the broker will have a clearer idea about the types of insurance products you need, and to what level.
The next step is then reviewing the coverage you have and benchmarking it against the market. Using a broker gives you an added advantage over going direct or with an insurance agent; brokers are independent and should offer you impartial and practical advice.
The review process should provide you with the most appropriate options that can meet a range of business goals; from increasing benefits to support talent acquisition, bolstering liability protections, and/or controlling rising premium costs and stabilizing your entire platform.
From there, the decision is yours – would your organization prefer to stay with their current provider or move to another? A broker can help you make the whole transition easier.
Another benefit of seeking aid from a broker is that they can provide assistance with processing premium payments, assisting HR with the new insurance contracts, and even educating school staff on what impact any changes might have on them.
The services of a professional insurance broker do not end the moment you sign the contract. In fact, one may say this is when the services really start. Pacific Prime has dedicated account managers for all school clients that help us manage not only your insurance experience but ensure you have another point of contact if you require additional information or consultation during the policy year.
When your next renewal period arrives, expect us to begin the process early enough so that you’ll have enough time to consider your options before your policies lapse.
Why Choose Pacific Prime?
Pacific Prime is a global insurance broker with over two decades of experience in the insurance industry. Our knowledge and expertise has allowed us to create annual reports and guides on the insurance industry, and our School Insurance Report is just one of them.
Contact us today for any insurance-related questions, a free quote and a plan comparison!
His expertise encompasses a broad range of areas including international health insurance, employee benefits solutions, motor insurance, life insurance, and various other forms of general insurance. This breadth of knowledge enables him to distill an array of complex insurance concepts into a series of progressive, easily understandable articles.
Anthony earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Lingnan University, majoring in Translation and minoring in English. He also studied at West Virginia University in the United States as an exchange student.
When he’s not working, Anthony can typically be found on the badminton court, in the gym, or at the theatre.
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How does school insurance address potential challenges specific to international students, such as language barriers or cultural differences?
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