b'Insurance NotesGeneral Liability InsuranceBusiness InterruptionGeneral liability insurance (subject to its exclusions and limitations)Business interruption insurance is typically provided as an extension of property insurance. It includes provides an important source of defence and indemnification for thevarious forms of lost profits or earnings protection, loss of rental income and extra expenses because of roofing contractor against allegations of negligence resulting in bodilya direct damage peril not otherwise excluded under property insurance. Disease or virus is generally not injury and/or property damage (which in its definition includes lossexcluded, but the key words are direct damage. Direct damage to property is very hard to prove in con-of use) arising from your operations. In the definition of bodily injury,nection with COVID-19, and as such, many insurers are denying COVID-19-based business interruption many liability insurance wordings include sickness, disease and death,claims on the strength that there was no direct damage that could trigger coverage. As you have seen in but do not be misled. Let us paint a scenario: a COVID-19 symptom- the newspapers, restaurants in particular have been badly impacted by COVID-19 and the government-atic employee may come into contact with an owner or an ownersenforced shutdown. As I write this, Phase 2 of re-opening is beginningexcept in the Toronto area, where employees in his/her day-to-day work. That contact could lead to the spread of contagion to others in the owners business or to buildingso many businesses remain closed and may not endure the emergency measures. occupants and beyond. The culmination of events could result in busi- In roofing, and contracting in general, the only form of business interruption at your business premises ness closure and death, and certainly pain and suffering. That owneris usually rental income and extra expense insurance. (Rental income is purchased if you have tenants and others affected or infected may not be covered by workers com- or have set up a holding company for real estate you own to collect rents from your roofing company.) pensation and may look to you for compensation. Typically, general li- There must be a direct damage to property peril not otherwise excluded to trigger coverage. Beyond this, ability insurance requires an occurrence or accident to happen result- contractors generate profits/earnings from jobsites and rarely purchase any form of business interruption ing in bodily injury or property damage, so the resultant bodily injuryinsurance at jobsites.and loss of use from that contact may not be covered. It is difficult toSome larger business types include virus (not to be confused with computer virussee Cyber Attack say the original contact was an accident (which must be proven), and ifbelow) as an extension under their business interruption insurance, so a few larger businesses have been it is determined that there was no accident, then your insurer may havefortunate to be covered for COVID-19-related losses without denial of coverage from their insurers. no legal duty to defend you. Insurers are increasingly adding communicable disease exclusions to all forms of property and business General liability insurers are already imposing new coverage restric- interruption insurance for clarity that it is not their intention to cover this risk. At the same time, lawsuits tions to clarify that it is not their intention to cover COVID-19-relatedfrom affected insureds are increasing and there will be some interesting decisions rendered over the next bodily injury and property damage (including loss of use). In fact, Com-municable Disease Exclusions are now appearing across most lines ofseveral years.insurance coverage. If you receive an action alleging various damages as a result of transmission of COVID-19, you must file your liabilityCyber Attack and Privacy Liability Insuranceclaim to see if a defence may be triggered; however, be prepared that your insurer will in all likelihood deny liability and possibly defence.Many of you, like my own company, have been forced into a remote work environment. It has been I am not a lawyer; this is just my own laymans perspective, but I dosurprising to me how effectively a business can run in this manner, and I expect we will see more vacant not believe general liability insurance provides the required coverage.rental offices over the next several years as some decide to continue working this way. Online meetings are very clear and the travel expense to attend meetings is reduced to $0.I, personally, prefer the face-to-face meeting, but even the handshake is now probably in the history books. With remote work comes cyber security concerns. You may have exemplary data security at your office, but is the modem at each employees home secure? There have been many articles on LinkedIn about the increasing successes of cyber hackers since COVID-19 beganthey are enjoying halcyon days. It seems pointless for an insurer to exclude communicable disease under a cyber insurance policy, but we are con-BUILD MORE cerned here about a very different sort of virus. The hacker can accomplish much to defraud you or your WITH BEACON customers because of remote work vulnerability. For example, and intentionally avoiding cyber-speak: They can issue fake invoices as if they are another company. They can pretend to be an authority and require sensitive informa-SERVING ROOFING CONTRACTORS ACROSS ONTARIO| CAMBRIDGE| CONCORD | LONDON| OTTAWA | WHITBY tion from you. WWW.BEACON-CANADA.COMThey can take over control of your website and hold it for ransom. They can introduce a virus that will contaminate your customers software, causing a financial loss for which you will likely be sued for having inadequate data security.They can access employee records if stored electronically. There are a multitude of pain in the neck damages cyber hackers can cause your company directly or indirectly (such as a third party lawsuit). If you have been on the fence about cyber insurance, I re- spectfully suggest it is time to add it to your insurance arsenal. Remote work is here to stay, as are cyber attacks.- PMI Programs- Modified Bitumen- Built Up SystemsWith remote work comes cyber security concerns. You may - Metal Roof Systems- Waterproofing- Restoration- Emergency Services- Roof Anchors- Single Ply - Roof Top Decks- Sheet Metal- Inverted have exemplary data security at your office, but is themodem at each employees home secure?18ONTARIO ROOFING NEWSISSUE 2 2020 THE ONLY SOURCE FOR PROFESSIONAL ICI ROOFING CONTRACTORS IN ONTARIO ORN'