Liability premiums fall

Employers' liability insurance premiums stood still, and even reduced in some cases, during the first quarter of 2004, according to Liverpool-based Powell Insurance Brokers.
"After several years of rising liability insurance costs, increased deductibles and restrictions in coverage, the insurance market appears to have commenced a long-awaited reversal in underwriting strategy for the construction industry," Eliot Powell, director of Powell Insurance told CJ.
"Liability insurance premiums have escalated to such an extent during the early years of this new millennium that profits have begun to emerge for insurers and an appetite to write more competitively is becoming apparent. There are new entrants and increased capacity. Even the more conservative insurers that have withdrawn from the construction sector over the past five years have begun to dip their toes back into the water," he continued.
"The genuine competition appears to be largely restricted to new build and refurbishment contractors, although rate stabilisation and slight reductions are now being witnessed in the better managed civil engineering and high risk sectors during the past few weeks," Powell said.
Over the past two months Powell Insurance has negotiated rate reductions of more than 10% for several clients with leading insurers.