Many businesses are now returning to work after several weeks of shutdown due to COVID-19. You may feel overwhelmed with the additional steps that must put in place to ensure a safe working environment.
AXA have prepared the following guidance documents with some practical tips and links to additional resources which may be useful to help your business get back to work.
Post Coronavirus Start-up Guidance
A cultural icon of France and, perhaps surprisingly, visited by more tourists than the Eiffel Tower, the Notre-Dame cathedral is a place of spiritual wellbeing as much as it is of Catholicism.
Due to the brave and quick-witted actions of firefighters, the structure has fortunately been saved, and a restoration project has been assured by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Is Notre-Dame insured?
Like all religious buildings erected before 1905, the state of France owns the building and as such, acts as its own insurer. In effect, the Notre-Dame is not insured.
The contents of the Notre-Dame, art, artefacts, and relics, are insured under each owner’s policy, or else are the responsibility of the archdioceses of Paris.
AXA Art confirmed it was ‘involved in the insurance of certain artefacts and ceremonial objects in the Notre-Dame.”
The French insurer also confirmed that it provided liability insurance for two of the contracting firms working on the Notre-Dame at the time of the blaze.
Remy Heitz, a Paris public prosecutor, said they were still working on the theory that the blaze was an accident.
Who will pay for the restoration?
If responsibility for the fire is not deemed to be due to one of the firms working on the cathedral, the state of France must pay for the restoration.
If this is the case, the $1 billion currently pledged could be a great start to its restoration. Donations poured in almost immediately after news broke out, from corporations and individuals including oil company, Total, and billionaire fashion mogul, François-Henri Pinault. European governments have also stressed the importance of working together to help with the costs.
If, however, one of the firms are found liable for the fire—whether it was an accident or not—then AXA will be liable up to the amount taken out on the policy. AXA are yet to confirm how much this would be.
How much will the restoration cost?
Wild figures have been reported for the full restoration of the Notre-Dame cathedral, with Reuters suggesting it could cost as much as €7 billion.
One of the key reasons for this is due to the materials used. The roof and spire—which were tragically incinerated—were made of ancient oak. Dr. Emily Guerry, Senior Lecturer in Mediaeval European History at the University of Kent, told CBS News that they were around 13,000 beams that were destroyed, equating to around 3,000 trees. Finding this volume of oak trees in the next two decades is “going to be tricky”, Guerry said.
The aftermath
The incident has left experts predicting a restoration time of roughly 40 years. However, Macron vowed to rebuild Notre-Dame within just five years. The French government now invites the world’s leading architects to design the new spire.
Every historical building is crucial not just in what it does but by what it symbolises, too. Whilst our team can’t arrange insurance for something as grand as the Notre-Dame, we do have access to leading insurers who can arrange buildings cover and contents cover for your listed buildings as well as liability insurance for contractors and tradesmen working on them.
Find out more by giving us a call on 01482 359 500.
Whilst many businesses are increasingly vigilant in amending their work policies to mitigate the risk of cyber-attacks, many still don’t have adequate protective measures against cybercrime in place.
In the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2019, recently published by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), findings suggest that larger business are still more likely to prioritise cybersecurity compared to smaller business and charities. Smaller businesses usually consider themselves to be less of a risk due to their scale, but there is little variation in the number of attacks between small and medium businesses, high-income charities and large businesses.
The rising cost of breaches
Despite the number of targeted attacks with a financial impact decreasing slightly over the last year, the overall costs to those who are affected have risen drastically. Since 2017 when the average direct cost to businesses was £1,380, this figure has now grown to £3,150 in 2019. This amount doesn’t consider recovery costs and long-term costs which both add up to approximately £3,000 on average.
Understanding your costs
The estimated costs of breaches in the past year varied widely across businesses, ranging between £300 and £100,000 across techniques including malware, ransomware, phishing emails and more. Concerns were raised during this survey that company management struggled to predict the full financial impact of a data breach and often failed to assess the bigger picture.
For example, whilst ransomware might cost your business £5,000 to restore all your systems, you would also need to account for any company downtime, loss of business incurred from reputational damage and the cost of implementing new systems and structures to ensure the same thing doesn’t happen again.
Protecting your finances
Although the number of large and medium businesses protecting their businesses with cyber insurance has risen in the past year, only 11% of all businesses and 6% of charities have specialised cover in place. What’s more, just over a third of businesses have a board member or trustee with specific responsibility for cybersecurity.
It’s important that, regardless of the size or nature of your business or charity, you are fully aware of both the immediate and long-term impact that cybercrime could pose to your operation.
At STP Risk Solutions, we’ve worked with many businesses from self-employed tradesmen to global corporations on their cyber solutions. To help ensure you’re protected, our specialist team can conduct a review of your existing insurance to evaluate whether cyber insurance would benefit your business. Just call us on 01482 359 500.
You might never have heard about risk management before. Or perhaps you’ve heard it in passing when we’ve spoken about your policy. You might even have had experience with how it works and how it can help. This article looks at the ins, the outs and everything in between.
What is risk management?
Risk management, simply, is the process of identifying and dealing with potential issues your business could face. These issues, or risks, could be very clear to you already. Others could be latent or unclear, which is why you’ll likely require our services to ensure they have been identified.
What types of risks could you face?
Every business, whether in the public sector or private, whether small or large, will face risks. They could be operational risks, such as fires, floods or other physical damage. They could be more technical, concerning areas including financial, legal, technological, environmental, political or could concern the people you employ.
Why is it important?
Firstly, it’s about the safety of your staff and members of the public who step foot in or on your business premises. If you’ve overlooked something and disaster strikes, you could be held liable. It doesn’t stop there, though. These risks could jeopardise your whole business; your brand or reputation could suffer; you could experience heavy losses; you could be held personally responsible as director or officer. What’s more, high-quality risk management processes are part and parcel of governing audits and inspections.
Why else might it be worthwhile?
In essence, these risks could be the difference between an effective, successful business and a closed one. Could you recover from a major financial setback in such a circumstance, for instance? Remarkably, the Health and Safety Executive suggest that for each £1 of insured risk, there is between £8 and £32 in uninsured loss in the aftermath, which includes damage to your brand or reputation, management time, admin costs and more.
What can you do?
You know your business better than anybody. Be proactive about every aspect of it, and try to consider every perspective. If you implement something new, think about all the possible outcomes. If you notice several risks, use your experience to prioritise the risks based on possible loss and probability of it occurring.
What can we do?
At STP Risk Solutions, we specialise in providing thorough risk management assistance. With our experience, we know what to look for when examining businesses and through a comprehensive audit, we can quickly highlight possible holes in your business and any existing policies and will assist you in ensuring these have been plugged. We know how technology is fuelling change in business as well which means we always have one eye on the future, so we’re always able to adapt to ensure you are protected the way you ought to be.
To find out more about our risk management services, contact the team now on 01482 359 500.