QWaLC Insurance | Queensland Water & Land Carers

Types of insurance for your group to consider

Volunteer Workers Personal Accident Insurance (offered by QWaLC)

Personal Accident Cover for volunteers (which is similar to the State Government’s compulsory work cover for paid employees) covers volunteers for certain out-of-pocket expenses following accidental injury, disability or death while carrying out their work on behalf of the organisation.

Depending on the policy, this type of insurance should normally cover loss of income. It is important to remember that this cover is rarely included in Public Liability Insurance, and therefore a separate policy needs to be taken out with the insurance broker or underwriter. Personal Accident Insurance is usually reasonably priced and easy to obtain. It is important to be aware of any age limit or any activities that might be excluded from this insurance cover. There is usually an excess for non-Medicare medical expenses. These details are spelt out in the policy wording. Students or work-placements may not be included in this insurance policy. It is therefore important to check the policy before engaging students or work-placements.

Public Liability Insurance (offered by QWaLC)

This insurance covers the organisation’s legal liability to pay damages to a third party (e.g. member of the public or clients of the organisation) for personal injury or property damage accidentally caused by a member of the organisation including its volunteers.

A separate or extended cover can be taken out to include legal costs in relation to a claim being made against the organisation. Some insurance brokers will include Product Liability as an extension of their Public Liability Policy.

Directors & Officers Liability Insurance (offered by QWaLC)

This insurance is specifically designed to indemnify committee members and office bearers for loss, including legal costs where they have been proven to be negligent in the course of performing their role in the organisation.

It is important to be familiar and understand the wording of this policy particularly the extent of cover and specific exclusions under the policy.

Professional Indemnity Insurance (included)

Brokers and insurance companies can combine Professional Indemnity and Directors and Officers Liability Insurance into one policy. Professional Indemnity Insurance is expensive and may not be necessary for all organisations.

It is therefore important to seek professional advice before taking out this insurance cover. This cover can be designed to compensate organisations for loss incurred through a claim made against the organisation for breach of professional duty or advice arising from negligence, error, omission, defamation, loss of records or documents, dishonest acts, etc. by volunteers (including management committee members) and paid staff. It is important to be familiar with and understand the wording of this policy as it often has a number of inclusions and exclusions.

Motor Vehicle Comprehensive Insurance (not offered by QWaLC)

This insurance covers vehicles owned and driven by volunteers or paid staff for loss or damage to the vehicle or third party property.

It is important for your organisation to have a motor vehicle policy (in addition to insurance) if volunteers or paid staff are using their own motor vehicle or the organisation’s vehicle in the course of their work requirements. It is advisable for volunteers to inform their motor vehicle insurer, if they are using their own vehicle in the course of their voluntary work.

If you have agency vehicles, it is important to check whether your insurance policy has any age or license restrictions for paid or volunteer staff use. For example, some policies may exclude or have an excess for drivers under the age of 25 or who are on their Probationary license.

Property & Contents Insurance (not offered by QWaLC)

This insurance includes damage or theft to the organisation’s property or contents. It is similar to Household Contents Insurance. This does not usually cover a volunteer or paid staff member’s personal belongings unless explicitly negotiated.

Cyber Security (not offered by QWaLC)

This is a new and growing area of risk for all organisations, especially in relation to strengthened privacy and data protection responsibilities to organisations under the Notifiable Data Breaches amendment to The Privacy Act 1988, which commenced on 22 February 2018. The issue of cyber security becomes particularly important given the possibilities for remote and virtual volunteering.

Update 27th Feb 2023

This years membership and Insurance survey has now closed. Information for this years insurance renewal will now be collated and provided to the insurers. New certificates of currency will be provided to continuing member groups by the 1st April 2023.

Update 31st March 2022

QWaLC has finalised ongoing insurance coverage for all QWaLC member groups (until 31st March 2023). Due to the continuing volatile and hardening insurance market it took a little longer this year to ensure that the coverage available was suitable across our diverse membership.Thanks to AON Brisbane and the continued funding from the Queensland Government we are able to offer ongoing governance and insurance support for the fantastic work undertaken by more than 444 member groups and 32,000 volunteers across Queensland.

There are some changes required this year so we will be providing updated information over the next few weeks. The new policy wording documents will be available on the QWaLC website as soon as they are received.

For those members who have completed this years annual membership and insurance survey your three certificates of currency will be emailed out to you over the next few days. Keep an eye out for an email from Lane.

If you haven’t completed the survey yet or don’t receive your certificates of currency please contact us.

Reminder re Member Group expectations re insurance coverage

1) be members of QWaLC at the time of the incident, which requires

a) member numbers must be reported to QWaLC

b) regular volunteers should be included on the membership list

c) provide income, expenditure, assets and liabilities information to QWaLC when requested

2) ensure appropriate health and safety obligations are met when conducting activities

3) undertake appropriate risk assessments and mitigation actions

4) make all reasonable efforts to record participant details

5) ensure all independent contractors hold separate appropriate insurances

6) in the case of an incident, not admit liability or fault, and inform QWaLC as soon as possible

7) avoid entering into contracts with “hold harmless” or “indemnification” or similar clauses

8) complete the annual membership and insurance survey

9) inform QWaLC of potential risks and new activities annually or before they are undertaken

10) inform QWaLC Inc. of any actual or alleged facts that should have reasonably been known that might give rise to a claim or an investigation and to provide all relevant information if a claim arise

If your group engages in or intends to engage in activities involving drones, bike riding, snorkelling or reef diving please contact Darryl.

The QWaLC insurance package offered to member groups includes Public Liability insurance, Volunteer Workers Personal Accident insurance and Associations Directors & Officers Liability insurance.

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Defamation

Update Feb 2023

Thanks to the many members who have already renewed their membership. On Friday the 27th Jan your designated contact person would have received an email with the online link for this years Membership and Insurance survey. Since then we have sent out email reminders and also an SMS. I encourage members to complete the online membership and insurance survey so that we can continue to provide the services you need and expect.

The membership and insurance survey closes this Friday the 24th Feb 2023

Update 29th March 2022 – The QWaLC insurance renewal process for member groups is well underway. We are currently discussing with the insurers the next twelve months coverage (1st April 2022 until 31st March 2023). We anticipate issuing new certificates of currency to groups late this week.

This years Feb 2022 survey is now closed.

In early Feb 2022 the membership and insurance survey will be made available for members to complete. Responses will be due 11th March 2022. Only members who have completed the survey will be able to receive ongoing insurance coverage.

Reminder re Member Group expectations re insurance coverage

1) be members of QWaLC at the time of the incident, which requires

member numbers must be reported to QWaLC
regular volunteers should be included on the membership list
provide income, expenditure, assets and liabilities information to QWaLC

2) ensure appropriate health and safety obligations are met when conducting activities

3) undertake appropriate risk assessments and mitigation actions

4) make all reasonable efforts to record participant details

5) ensure all independent contractors hold separate appropriate insurances

6) in the case of an incident, not admit liability or fault, and inform QWaLC as soon as possible

7) avoid entering into contracts with “hold harmless” or “indemnification” clauses

8) complete the annual membership and insurance survey

9) inform QWaLC of potential risks and new activities

10) inform QWaLC Inc. of any actual or alleged facts that should have reasonably been known that might give rise to a claim or an investigation and to provide all relevant information if a claim arises.

Update 31st March 2021

(Certificates of Currency are being emailed out)

QWaLC has finalised ongoing insurance coverage for all QWaLC member groups (until 31st March 2022). Due to a quite volatile and difficult insurance market it took a bit longer this year to ensure that the coverage available was suitable across our diverse membership.

Thanks to AON Brisbane and continued funding from the Queensland Government we are able to offer ongoing governance and insurance support for the fantastic work undertaken by more than 430 member groups and 28,000 volunteers across Queensland.

If you haven’t completed the survey yet or don’t receive your certificates of currency please contact us.

Update March 2021

Currently the responses to the membership and insurance survey are being collated. Insurance renewal certificates of currency are on schedule to be emailed out to member groups before the 31st March 2021.

Update Feb 2021

The membership and insurance survey is being emailed to member groups this week (10th Feb)

Update March 2020

New certificates of currency for the year 1st April 2020 to 31st March 2021 will be emailed out this week to members who have completed the membership and insurance survey survey.

Thanks to the generous support of the Queensland State Government, Queensland Water and Land Carers has now signed the contract for insurance coverage for 2020-2021. The policies, Public Liability, Volunteer Accident and Protector Liability, have been taken out with Aon Insurance.

If you have not received, by email your three certificates of currency by the first week in April 2020 please contact Darryl.

February 2020

The annual membership and insurance survey is underway. If you haven’t received an email with the link to survey monkey please let me know.

January 2020

In the week of the 31st January 2020 the annual QWalC Membership and Insurance survey will be emailed to member groups.
New certificates of currency for the year 1st April 2020 to 31st March 2021 will be emailed out to members who complete the survey before the 6th March 2020.
If you have not received, by email your three certificates of currency by the first week in April 2020 please contact Darryl.

Insurance coverage for member groups is current until 31st March 2020

If you have an incident to report please use this form and return it to Darryl

QWaLCAccidentIncidentReportUpdatev2_V1-Fillable.pdf

If you have any queries, please email Darryl at darryl@qwalc.org.au

Insurance Coverage is offered to QWaLC Member Groups

Landcare Groups (including Bushcare) and Coastcare Groups.
Waterwatch, Catchment and other Voluntary Environmental Groups in Qld who are members of QWALC.
All individual persons carrying out activities authorised by the registered voluntary groups

Items to Note

Insurance is not a substitute for risk management. Having insurance should only come into the picture when you’ve done all you can to minimise risk.
No one can tell you what sort of insurance you need – you need to consider your organisation’s own risk profile and appetite against what insurance policies can cover and may cost.
When comparing policies, make sure you take particular note of limits, excesses, exclusions and geographic coverage.
Always pay attention to the exclusions

Insured (the definition of activities)

Land Care Groups (incuding Bushcare, Coastal Care, Waterwatch and Catchment Groups) in Queensland who are Land Care Groups registered with the QLD Water & Land Carers Inc. and all individual persons carrying out activities Principally volunteer, community, charitable and not-for profit Organisations and all other associated and related activities including activities of volunteers.

Policy coverage offered by QWaLC

Public Liability
Personal Accident (Voluntary Workers)
Protector Liability including Professional Liability, Management Liability, Association Liability, Employment Practices Liability, Employee Fraud or Dishonesty.

Archived Information

Insurance Update March 2019

A majority of Membership and Insurance surveys have been completed.
New certificates of currency for the year 1st April 2019 to 31st March 2020 will be emailed out to members who have completed the survey before the 31st March 2019.
If you have not received your three certificates of currency by then please contact Darryl.

Insurance coverage for member groups is current until 31st March 2019

The annual membership and insurance survey was distributed in February 2019.
As you know this survey is an important part of the life of QWaLC members and provides essential information to us that is used to negotiate better insurance premiums and cover as well as provide a valuable insight into many aspects of member groups activities.

Thanks to the generous support of the Queensland State Government, Queensland Water and Land Carers has now signed the contract for insurance coverage for 2019-2020. The policies, Public Liability, Volunteer Accident and Protector Liability, have been taken out with Aon Insurance.

Updated information will be provided over the next few weeks.

OLD Information

Insurance Update for QWaLC Member Groups 7th May 2017

The insurance coverage changes for the year 2017-2018 are now complete.
If you completed the membership and insurance survey sent out in November 2016 you would have received your three new insurance certificates of currency via email.

If you have any concerns or questions about this change please call Darryl on 07 3844 4032 or send an email to darryl@qwalc.org.au

Insurance coverage is now extended to March 2018
Insurance coverage is still offered to member groups at no cost.
The three insurance policies offered will still be

1. Voluntary Workers Personal Accident – $100,000 death and capital benefits with a weekly benefit of $500 per week for 104 weeks.
NB: All medical costs must be recovered from all available sources, eg. Medicare or private health fund before any claim can be made on this policy.
2. Public Liability – $30m any one Occurrence & ii Product Liability – $30m any one period of insurance (Excess is $1,000.00 each and every claim)
3. Protector/Association Liability – Includes Professional Indemnity, Directors & Officers Liability, Statutory Liability, Employment Practice Liability
i. $10m Limit of Liability – any one claim ii. $20m in the aggregate.

We will be sending out the new Certificates of Currency as soon as possible after the 31st March and the new policy documents and other information will be made available on the QWaLC website.
Managing Risk
QWaLC as the master policy holder requires groups to be proactive in their management of risk:
a. Insured member groups should ensure all members are recorded in a membership register.
b. All volunteers and members participating in group activities should complete a sign‐on sheet.
c. A WHS risk assessment should be undertaken for all activities (see Landcare in a Box Resources for templates).

2017/2018 Insurance Policies and Certificates

If your group has not received the 2018/19 Membership and Insurance Survey by the 2nd Feb 2018 please contact us as soon as possible. Once the survey is complete we can send out the new certificates of currency to you in the second week of March.

If you have any queries, please email Darryl at darryl@qwalc.org.au

Insurance Coverage is offered to QWaLC Member Groups

Landcare Groups (including Bushcare) and Coastcare Groups.
Waterwatch, Catchment and other Voluntary Environmental Groups in Qld who are members of QWALC.
All individual persons carrying out activities authorised by the registered voluntary groups

Items to Note

Insurance is not a substitute for risk management. Having insurance should only come into the picture when you’ve done all you can to minimise risk.
No one can tell you what sort of insurance you need – you need to consider your organisation’s own risk profile and appetite against what insurance policies can cover and may cost.
When comparing policies, make sure you take particular note of limits, excesses, exclusions and geographic coverage.
Always pay attention to the exclusions

Insured (the definition of activities)

Policy coverage offered by QWaLC

Public Liability
Personal Accident (Voluntary Workers)
Protector Liability including Professional Liability, Management Liability, Association Liability, Employment Practices Liability, Employee Fraud or Dishonesty.

If you need to report an incident please use the form below

QWaLCAccidentIncidentReportUpdatev2_V1 Fillable

Updated 15th March 2019
Updated 13th August 2018
Updated 7th May 2017
Updated 24th February 2017
Updated 26th November 2016