Disaster insurance solutions for corporates and businesses in Singapore
Keeping your business open and running is vital to ensuring your products are available to consumers, your services are connecting with clients, and your company continues to turn a profit. Unforeseen circumstances, such as natural events or accidents of human error, can be disruptive and, therefore, costly. This is where disaster insurance solutions can help protect you and your business when calamity strikes.
The need for disaster insurance in Singapore and Asia
While it’s true that Singapore itself doesn’t experience a high number of natural disasters, there’s no ignoring that the greater Asia takes more than its share of events. The world’s largest continent, Asia takes up 30% of the total land area of the planet. In fact, 60% of the world’s population call this region home, with over 700 million people living in cities labeled as high or extreme disaster risks.
The disaster figures are astounding, but it’s the proportion that’s more surprising. In 2016, the world counted a total of 327 separate disaster events – 191 natural and 136 man-made. Of those, Asia accounted for 48% of the economic losses experienced globally from those events, costing the region USD 83 billion. The continent also suffered the loss of 16,000 lives in 2015, while it account for over half of the world’s disasters.
The large area and population numbers is one of the factors that sees Asia return such high figures when it comes to the social and economic impacts of disasters, but it’s also why many businesses persist through challenging conditions. New and established Singaporean companies with business interests around the continent all recognize that securing their businesses with disaster insurance is a vital part of life in Asia.
What can companies expect from disaster insurance solutions?
There are a range of corporate insurance coverage options available to secure businesses against the unexpected. Those of you whose companies operate solely within Singapore can opt for a local insurance company, however multinationals with offices across a number of Asian countries will need an insurer with a global reach. Regardless, if you’re looking for disaster insurance, there are a few types of policies you should take interest in:
Property insurance
Like home and contents insurance for private homeowners, a property insurance policy protects the your business’ property from a wide range of damage causes. This can include fire, earthquakes, explosions, wind and storm damage, frozen pipes and water damage, and theft and vandalism. Property insurance can cover damage to your building premises and office equipment, as well as garages, patios, and other features on your property.
If you take out a mortgage on a commercial property or other facility, you can be sure that holding a property insurance policy will be required by your lender. It’s worth noting, however, that flooding can sometimes be exempt from coverage if your property is in an area that’s high risk for floods. If this is the case, flood coverage can usually be purchased separately at an extra cost.
Business interruption insurance
As we said earlier, an interruption to your business can be costly. Natural disasters, such as the Japan earthquakes in 2011, can damage business premises and offices, making them unsafe to operate from. Sudden disease and contagious illnesses, as with Hong Kong’s 2003 bird flu epidemic, can immobilize hundreds, if not thousands, of workers, halting business operations for an unspecific and costly length of time.
Business interruption policies can help you meet bills, cover your obligations to employees, and other business partners if your company finds itself faced with significant downtime. In a time where income ceases due to inactivity, these policies can literally be the lifeline your company needs to weather the storm through to calmer waters. This can even include where your own suppliers or distributors cause hold ups for your business.
Third party liability insurance
Finally, sometimes human error can play a part in disrupting your business operations. An employee that causes a crash whilst driving a company car, or a company tanker that flips and spills hazardous chemicals across a roadway and into a stream can all result in the business being held liable for some hefty bills and fines. Third party liability insurance helps protect the integrity of your business so that such incidents don’t cripple and bankrupt you.
Holding certain levels of third party liability plan is mandatory in many countries. Such plans can come with a maximum amount of benefits that they will pay out in the event your company becomes legally liable to pay damages to third parties. You’ll want to ensure that you’ve considered what some of your “worst case scenarios” are to ensure you’re not covering a significant difference should the time come.
Finding the right sort of disaster insurance for your business in Singapore and in Asia
There are more business insurance solutions available, such as vehicle insurance for businesses with their own fleet or employer-provided health insurance for employees, that you may or may not need to consider for your company. At the very least, you should always look to insure the important parts of your business that allows you to operate and generate income.
If you think there may be some gaps in the disaster insurance coverage your business currently has, or you’re thinking of replacing your current arrangement with something that better suits your needs, give the fantastic team at Pacific Prime Singapore a call today. Their expert advisors have over 15 years experience in connecting companies with comprehensive solutions to keep their business going through anything.
For advice or a free quote, contact Pacific Prime Singapore today!
Serena earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of British Columbia, Canada. As such, she is an avid advocate of mental health and is fascinated by all things psychology (especially if it’s cognitive psychology!).
Her previous work experience includes teaching toddlers to read, writing for a travel/wellness online magazine, and then a business news blog. These combined experiences give her the skills and insights she needs to explain complex ideas in a succinct way. Being the daughter of an immigrant and a traveler herself, she is passionate about educating expats and digital nomads on travel and international health insurance.
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