Aon's Affinity unveils outdoors-focused public liability offering

Aon-owned Affinity Insurance Brokers is offering a new public liability product designed for the outdoor recreational industry, after securing a binder arrangement of $20 million with London-based Beazley Group.

The Outdoors Adventure, Leisure and Tourism Insurance offering launched today is a direct-to-market product based on robust risk management frameworks supported by existing industry accreditation systems.

It provides an “occurrence-based” wording for the outdoor education, tourism, adventure activities, caravan parks and campsites sectors whose activities fall under existing accreditation systems and/or the Australian Adventure Activity Standards.

The product has the support of outdoor industry bodies including the Outdoor Council of Australia, Outdoors NSW & ACT and Outdoors Victoria.

Affinity Insurance, based in the Melbourne suburb of Cheltenham, is a specialist in arranging insurance for the equine, adventure and outdoors activity industries. It also offers business, farm, home and car insurance, according to its website.

“The partnership with Beazley enables us to continue to support our clients and grow this market by providing a tailored, direct, and connected experience backed by Affinity Insurance Brokers’ team of experienced outdoor and leisure broking professionals,” Aon’s Affinity business MD Lisa Henderson said.

Affinity Insurance Brokers Specialties Client Manager Greg Shallard says the brokerage’s commitment is to “our clients and the long-term future of the outdoor industry, to ensure competitive and sustainable insurance solutions in a traditionally hard-to-place market”.

“Our new relationship provides increased underwriting capabilities, improved claims support and some stability for this market segment,” he said.

Beazley Group Specialty Lines’ Rob Kale says the business is “delighted” to partner with Affinity to offer the product for outdoor operators.

“We anticipate that businesses will find comfort knowing that they can operate with effective pricing and support following what has been a tumultuous time for the industry as a whole,” he said.

Affinity Insurance Brokers Client Director Paul Davenport says the market has been “very difficult” in recent years because of poor claims history and a lack of adequate risk management documentation.

“Insurers are asking them for material they just don’t have or what they do have does not line up with the industry’s standards,” Mr Davenport told insuranceNEWS.com.au. “A key part of our offering is that we actually provide support in that area.”

In conjunction with the new offering, the brokerage will be rolling out an educational initiative that will be available next month, focusing on key operational risks associated with many activity-based business operators.

These include maintenance and inspection, operating procedures, risk assessments and incident management and emergency response.

The pilot education program, developed in partnership with Outdoors NSW &ACT, will address the needs of a range of stakeholders including landowners (private and parks agencies), schools and state education department and insurers.

Mr Davenport says the program aims to improve the understanding and implementation of effective risk management practices in the outdoor recreational industry.

“Rather than insurers dictating standards to the outdoor industry, this is now the outdoor industry saying ‘we need to do better’, they need to educate their members in the practical delivery of the Adventure Activity Standards,” Mr Davenport said.

Outdoors NSW & ACT CEO Lori Modde says it has been increasingly clear that the outdoor industry needs to lead in benchmarking its processes to give its stakeholders faith and certainty of the risk management and operational processes.

“This [education] program is part of a larger strategic process which will result in working with current and new accreditation systems that give the industry long-term assurance of insurance coverage,” she said.