Platinum Commercial and General Insurance is able to arrange, place and manage insurance for pharmaceutical organisations, medical device companies, healthcare product service organisations and other life sciences industry companies.

There are various specialised insurance products for General Liability, Products and Human Clinical Trials Liability and Errors & Omissions.

Pharmaceutical Companies
Insurance coverage is available for manufacturers of prescription and over the counter drugs and dietary supplements. Insurers will also consider providing cover for manufacturers of veterinary products, although to be considered the veterinary products must be manufactured for the purpose of treating a disease

Medical Device Companies
Insurance coverage is available for manufacturers of medical devices and laboratory equipment used in the research and development of new drugs and medical devices

Drug Discovery Companies
Insurance coverage is available under this category for companies such as biotech R&D companies developing new therapies based around genomics or proteomics and other studies of disease at the molecular level.  Insurance coverage is also available for Bioinformatics companies in this category.

Contract Research Organisations
Insurance coverage is available for companies in the business of providing support services to Pharmaceutical, Medical Device, or  Drug Discovery companies on a fee for service basis.  These support service activities can include contract research, laboratory work, clinical work (relating to human clinical trials), product design or development reviews.

Contract Manufacturing Organisations
Insurance coverage is available for companies that provide manufacturing, packaging or labelling services to Pharmaceutical and Medical Device companies on a fee-for-service basis.

Human Clinical Trials
Insurance coverage for Human Clinical trials is avialalbe however coverage is usually only available in conjunction with the full casualty program of the trial sponsor, and is not provided in isolation.

Platinum Commercial and General Insurance is able to arrange, place and manage all your Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Liability insurance requirements.

We are able to arrange insurance cover for a range of Information Technology insurance companies including:

IT and Telecommunications

• Equipment Manufacturing
• Computer and peripheral equipment manufacturers
• Electroninc components and accessories manufacturers
• Integrated circuit manufactures
• Network/hardware manufacturers

Software Development: Designers, developers and producers

• Pre-packaged software
• Operation Systems
• Network Software
• Databases
• Application software and tools
• Computer programming
• Shrink-wrapped software

Information Technology Services

• Data processors and system integrators
• Data storage and retrieval services
• Computer conusltants and systems analysts
• Computer maintenance and repair
• IT outsourcing and facility managers
• Value added resellers
• Other computer-related services

Telecommunication Services - Voice data and video transmission services

• Internet Service Providers
• Application Service Providers
• Web hosting, data centres and ancillary services
• Wireless communication and messaging services
• Network consulting and support services

Information Technology Liability Insurance is specifically designed for the Information Technology (IT) consulting market. This type of product typically offers a Civil Liability Professional Indemnity Policy and a Broad Form Liability policy combined into one product. Legal uncertainty exists over whether IT people are providing a “product” or a “service”. A service such as IT advice is a Professional Indemnity risk where as a “product” such as a hard drive is a Products Liability risk.

One Information Technology Liability Insurance policy covering both exposures with one insurer removes the problem of the policy failing to respond to a claim because the Public & Products Liability Insurer says the incident was a service and the Professional Indemnity Insurer saying the incident was a product and you suffering the financial loss.  Legal uncertainty exists over the character of some of the activities provided by IT consultants. In providing software advice and/or design, are you providing a service or a ‘product’?

Understandably, the uncertainty has caused confusion in the handling of claims. Should the claim be treated as a ‘service’ and therefore be covered under a Professional Indemnity policy? i.e. the claim arose from a breach of the Insured’s professional duty. Alternatively, should the claim be treated as a ‘product’ under a Public & Products liability policy i.e. the claim arose out of a product or manufacturing fault?

An Information Technology Liability Insurance Policy Package provides the convenience and benefit of full Civil Liability Professional Indemnity and Broadform Liability Insurance policies, in one Liability Package Policy. The Package provides cover for both civil liability arising from the conduct of the Insured’s professional business practice, and third party loss caused by bodily injury or property damage.

This insurance product typically achieves this by removing the ‘sale and supply exclusion’ in the Professional Indemnity policy wording. It allows a closer fit with the Broadform Liability policy, minimising uncertainty over the cover provided to IT consultants under this insurance package.

In addition the policies within the package are specifically tailored for IT professionals by removal of the electronic data exclusion from the general liability policy and by extending documents cover under the PI section to include data and the Date Recognition Exclusion has been removed from both sections of the policy.

Platinum Commercial and General Insurance is able to arrange, place and manage all your Directors and Officers Liability Insurance (D&O Insurance) requirements. 

Directors and Officers Liability Insurance (D&O Insurance) is designed to protect the personal assets of directors and officers of a corporation by providing indemnity for loss arising from a claim as a result of a ‘wrongful act’ committed by them in the course of performing their duties as a company director or officer. A Wrongful Act is usually defined as an error, mis-statement, misleading statement, conduct, omission, neglect or breach of duty.

A typical D&O liability insurance policy is able to offer a number of automatic extensions including:

Advancement of defence costs
The insurer will generally conduct on behalf of its insureds the defence of a claim, dealing with the complex legal issues associated with the claim.

Attendance at official investigations or inquiries
The full policy limit is available to directors and officers, for defence costs, in the event that they are required to attend any official investigation, examination or inquiry.

Occupational health and safety
The full policy limit is available to directors and officers, for defence costs, in the event that there is a claim made against them relating to a breach of occupational health and safety law.

Joint venture cover
The policy provides cover for directors in respect of any unincorporated joint ventures that the
corporation may become involved in.

Continuous cover clause
The policy can provide cover for known circumstances arising prior to the period of insurance provided the D&O policy was held by the insurer at the time the directors and officers first became aware of the known circumstance.

Worldwide territorial limits
The policy provides cover for a claim that arises from any wrongful act committed anywhere in the world provided the action is brought within the policy jurisdiction.

Insured versus Insured cover
Despite the typical existence of a Insured vs Insured exclusion, a policy can provide cover for claims made by an insured person against another insured person in certain circumstances.

Other typical automatic policy extensions include:

• Cover for new subsidiaries.
• Current outside directorships (Other than Not-For-Profit organisations).
• Limited prospectus liability.
• Run-off cover for subsidiaries.
• Run-off cover for outside directorships.

A typical D&O liability insurance policy may also offer a number of optional extensions subject to the underwriting insurer’s offer, including:

• Entity cover for Employment Practices Liability   claims brought against the corporation.
• Current outside directorships (Other than non-profit organisations).
• Prospectus liability - initial public offering.
• USA and Canadian jurisdiction.
• Pre-acquisition liability.
• Pollution defence costs.

Frequently asked questsions about Directors & Officers (D&O) Liability Insurance

What is Directors’ & Officers’ (D&O) Insurance?
D&O is the short-form phrase for directors’ and officers’ liability insurance. The policy is designed to protect the personal assets of directors and officers by providing indemnity for any loss arising from a claim as a result of a ‘wrongful act’ committed by them in the course of performing their duties.

What does a ‘wrongful act’ mean?
We define a ‘wrongful act’ to include an actual or alleged breach of duty, breach of trust, neglect, error, misstatement, misleading statement, omission, breach of warranty of authority or other act done or attempted by, or any other matter claimed against, a director and officer while acting in that capacity.

Who is covered under a D&O liability insurance policy?
A D&O liability insurancepolicy protects directors and officers of the corporation and all its subsidiaries.

What are some common types of claims brought against directors and officers?
Typical Directors sources of claims include:

• Breach of duty/neglect.
• Trade Practices/Fair Trading Legislation.
• Insolvent trading under Section 588G of the Corporations Act 2001(Cth).
• Mergers and acquisitions (misleading and deceptive conduct).
• Shareholder disputes.
• Employee claims (unfair dismissal, discrimination, sexual harassment).
• Unions/members (defamation).
• Regulatory authorities (ATO, ACCC, anti-discrimination boards, etc).
• Federal and State government offices.
• Breach of contract.

A Professional Indemnity (PI) Insurance Policy is intended to protect a professional from financial loss, injury or damage arising from a mistake or failure by the professional to exercise the required level of skill. A professional may also be held to be liable for a mistake even though there was no negligence. 

If a professional holds themselves out as having a special skill, which can be relied upon by another, you should consider taking out a Professional Indemnity (PI) Insurance Policy.

We have access to Professional Indemnity (PI) Insurance policy wordings which provides for an extension of various covers under a full civil liability wording.  This Professional Indemnity (PI) Insurance policy wording is able to assist clients with a broad range of occupations and professional indemnity needs.

Some of the Professional Indemnity (PI) policies features are as follows:

• Broad Based insuring clause covering full civil liability loss and not restricted to claims for a breach of professional duty
• Standard costs in addition limits
• Inclusion of a Continuity of Cover Clause
• Removal of sub-limit of Loss of Documents cover with ‘Documents’ including computer & electronic records
• Amended Pollution Exclusion to include cover for surveying and design of pollution control equipment
• Inclusion of a Principals Previous Business optional extension
• Consultants & Sub-contractors included in definitions of Insured’s
• Disciplinary Inquiries Costs Cover for any disciplinary proceedings
• Definition of Claim includes oral demands and cross claims or counter claims
• Costs & Expenses definition includes related appeals or similar process
• No excess accumulation – 1 claim, 1 limit, 1 excess
• Insured’s right to contest protected & Senior Counsel clause included
• NO bodily injury or property damage exclusions

Typically this Professional Indemnity (PI) Insurance policy can offer terms on a majority of occupations with limits up to $10m.  Some of the occupations include:

• Financial Planners
• Real Estate Agents
• Geotechnical Engineers, Structural Engineers, Acoustical Engineers
• Marketing & Communications Consultants including Advertising Agencies
• Project Managers
• Marine Assessors/Surveyors & Naval Architects

 Platinum Commercial and General Insurance is able to arrange, place and manage all your Financial Institutions Insurance requirements. 

Financial Institutions Insurance - Insuring Clauses

• Fund and Investment Manager Civil Liability Professional Indemnity
• Fund and Investment Manager Directors and Officers Liability
• Fund and Insured Entity Company Reimbursement
• Fund and Investment Manager Crime Protection 

Financial Institutions Insurance- Insuring Cover Capabilities

• Professional Indemnity - $10m
• Directors & Officers Liability - $20m
• Investment Managers Insurance - $10m

Financial Institutions Insurance - Insuring Cover Features

• New Funds
• New Subsidiaries
• Fund & Subsidiary Run Off Cover
• Discovery Period
• Advance Payment of Defence Costs
• Continuity of Cover
• Court Attendance
• Retired Insured Persons
• Additional Limit for Non Executive Directors
• Domestic Partners
• Administrators & Executors
• Lost Documents
• Breach of Privacy
• Public Relations Cover
• Emergency Costs
• Pecuniary Penalties
• Extradition Costs
• Crisis Mitigation
• Bail and Civil Bond Expenses
• Prosecution Costs
• Occupational Health & Safety Defence Costs
• Pollution
• Outside Directorship Liability
• Investigation Costs
• Loss Investigation Costs
• Computer Program Restoration
• Identity Theft Expenses

Platinum Commercial and General Insurance is able to arrange, place and manage all your aviation insurance requirements.

We have facilities with specialist Aviation Insurers and access to insurance underwriters with a long standing reputation for a depth of aviation sector knowledge, and understanding of the needs of the aviation industry.

Platinum Commercial and General is able to assist you with various aviation insurance risks including:

Aircraft Hull and Liability insurance

A policy of this type will usually provide you with comprehensive cover for any type of aircraft, from glider to commercial airliner. This type of insurance is specifically designed to protect against loss or damage to your aircraft, and against third party or passenger liability arising from an accident.

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