Call for staff insurance crackdown
The government has been urged to crack down on companies that do not buy Employers' Liability insurance for their staff, or which skimp on the cover they do purchase.
Responding to the Cabinet Office's Review of Health and Safety and the Compensation Culture, the Association of Insurance and Risk Managers (Airmic) said enforcement of current legislation was "woefully inadequate".
Firms can be fined up to £2,500 per day if they breach the Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969, which requires employers to insure their liability to their employees for personal injury, disease or death sustained in the course of their employment in Great Britain.
The minimum legal cover is set at £5 million, although the Association of British Insurers (ABI) advises that, in practice, most policies offer £10 million minimum cover.
Airmic technical director Paul Hopkin said: "Apart from the obvious moral and legal imperative to protect staff, it is unfair that (some) are placed at a competitive disadvantage because they observe the letter of the law. Firms that save money by taking shortcuts on employee safety are getting away with it because of inadequate enforcement."