Insurance advice: Covers to consider for your research project

If your business is involved in scientific research and biotechnology, you’ll know that risk management is part of the fabric of your everyday existence. Whether you are a biotech holding trials yourself or you outsource this process to a contract research service, insurance to protect against the unexpected is essential to allow you to bring your products to market successfully.

woman working in a laboratory_clinical trials insurance

Barnes Commercial Insurance writes:

Protecting your research project from risk

Risks can come from all manner of places such as injury from unsafe products, negligence in clinical trials or you may be the cause of pollution. It’s how you prepare for the unexpected and manage these potential risks, that can make the difference between a successful project outcome or having to abandon it.

The medical device industry is heavily regulated and if this is your area of expertise, you’ll know that you can’t compromise on the health and safety of your patients, a product user or any third parties. You have to adhere to strict compliance and H&S procedures on an everyday basis, any deviation from these increases your risk potential. Having robust insurance in place is vital to protect against any incidents that may impact patient health and safety.

To ensure that you have the right insurance protection in place, you should consider creating a portfolio of covers that fit with your particular needs. We’ll explain what they are and why you should include them in your plan.

Professional Indemnity Insurance

This cover will protect you against third party claims for loss of income or reputational damage. It covers the costs and expenses incurred in your defence of damage or bodily injury caused by pharmaceutical products, clinical trials or medical devices used clinical research. It will also cover the costs associated with any failure to fulfil your contractual obligations as a result of the event.

Public Liability Insurance

This invaluable insurance covers against a negligent injury or death, or property damage to a third party because of your work.

Employers’ Liability Insurance

A legal requirement for all workers whether full time, part time, contract or temporary, this insurance will cover any costs relating to a claim by an employee who is injured whilst working for you.

Product Liability Insurance

If the products that you produce cause injury or death, this insurance will help to cover the costs to defend a claim. This insurance is essential if you make medical devices.

Clinical Trials Insurance

This cover protects you against the unexpected and provides peace of mind for you and your research participants. It protects you against your legal liability for injury to research participants and any damage to their property. Read more here about Clinical Trial insurance.

Business Interruption

This cover could be the difference between continuing your trial or having to abandon it. It covers your lost income if a ‘policy stated’ event causes serious damage to your operation and prevents you from opening. Events could include damage related incidents such as fire or flood, or non-damage, such as a cyberattack. A Business Interruption extension will ensure that you are back up and running as soon as possible, with minimal disruption. Read more here about Business Interruption insurance.

Entity Defence

This useful cover has a myriad of elements that protect your organisation and can be a useful extension to your insurance solution. It includes PR Crisis Management which will cover the costs to engage a PR specialist to deal with adverse press, publicity, or media attention which may consequentially harm your business. This could be due for example, to allegations of fraud or serious injury to employees or members of the public.

It also includes Identity Fraud, covering the legal costs and expenses to allow you to establish that someone has used your identity fraudulently. For example, if someone enters into an agreement with a third party, by representing themselves as you, this cover will allow you to protect your business integrity.

In addition, Entity Defence will also provide cover for Investigations, Corporate Manslaughter and Data Protection.

Management Liability (Directors’ and Officers’)

This will cover your legal liability as a director or officer of the company and will meet any legal costs and expenses in respect of investigations and the defence of any legal action seeking your disqualification as a director.

Transit of Stock

Useful if you need to move product to different locations, this insurance covers for both material damage and Business Interruption instances. It also covers stock at fixed locations.

You can also add in cover for Specified All Risks, Money and Personal Assault, and Property Damage.

Get the right advice

Deciding on what is right for your setup can be a challenge in itself. Depending on the nature of your research project, some insurers will only provide cover on a specific group of policies – not offering each cover as a standalone element. So, getting the right advice on what is the right solution for your particular needs is vital to make sure that you’re not left exposed to risk.

At Barnes we work with our clients to ensure that they have the protection they need, so they can carry out their vital research project with complete peace of mind.

We will carry out a full risk assessment and review any existing cover to identify gaps where you might be under, or even over, insured. Of course, we recognise that you’ll require different levels of cover at the various stages of your research and development project and will make recommendations for a solution that fits with your needs both for now and for the future.

If you are a start-up or micro-organisation, we’re here to grow with you and will adapt our advice and recommendations based on your needs now. If you are a veteran of research, our in-depth knowledge of your sector will allow us to create the right solution to provide the very best protection from your potential risk exposure.

Having the right insurance protection brings peace of mind for you and reassurance for others including your partners, customers’, and any research participants. It ensures you can continue your invaluable research work, to create products that make a real difference to people’s lives.

Talk to us about your next scientific research project and ensure you have the right cover in place – call us on 01480 272727, send us an email at enquiries@barnesinsurancebroker.co.uk



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