What Is An Incident?

What is an Incident?

Available when you need us - # incident reporting
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MAI is a specialised Martial Arts, Fitness and Sports Brokerage based in Melbourne and servicing all States
and Territories of Australia.

There are many moving parts to your business not all of them

need to be cover by a policy!


What is an Incident?

An incident is any matter where injury or damage is a result and may give rise to a claim on the policy. When the instructor becomes aware of an incident it should be recorded to assist in the preparation of the claim. The ideal situation is that before an after each class the instructor asks the students if any of them have an existing injury / don’t feel well / are feeling very tired / taking medication that might effect their balance or breathing or their ability to perform certain moves / exercises. Any incident or concern raised should be written in the incident book / dated and signed.

Can I get a FREE INCIDENT REPORTING DOCUMENT? Yes!

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUSTIONS - REDUCING POLICY COSTS - WHAT TO DO WITH CLAIMS & MORE

  • Does your standard gym policy cover your new kickboxing classes?

    A standard policy may not cover kickboxing classes even if they are just for fitness and no sparring. This a grey area of cover with the activity having to be clearly defined. Don't risk it, we have a policy that we know covers it.

  • How can gym owners reduce their public liability insurance?

    - Have a low claims ratio and/or have high level risk management policies.

    - Have the highest qualifications for their instructors and constantly improve them

    - Regularly do your own or get an independent risk assessors to review/audit your facility. 

    - Invest in more cameras to capture incidents, making it easier for insurers to defend against a claim.

    - Ask their broker for a multi policy discount (purchase a biz pack or another policy)

    - Find a broker with preferred rates (special program) where they pass on the rates to the client.

    - Be with an association with special rates, through their broker, that gives members discounted rates


  • Are you sub-leasing some gym space for martial arts (eg: BJJ, Kickboxing, MMA)?

    If so you will need to make sure they have their own insurance and they are qualified to teach. There can be complications of cover if your gym members join in the martial arts classes. Ask us what you should do.

  • Claims can put up your premium so why not jump brokers?

    .Jumping brokers is not always the answer because you still have to disclose your claims history to any new insurer and they will quote based upon your historical risk. That said, your broker may suggest you ride out the increase premium for a couple of years until they drop again as you get better support if you have another claim. An experienced broker will know the market and unfortunately they are not a lot of players to chose from. 

  • Why can some brokers get better rates for your gym and others can't?

    - Brokers who belong to a buying group have greater volume and buying power to access better rates

    - Some brokers only have access to a couple of insurers and not from the full market

    - If you have had a few claims your premium maybe loaded  or declined

    - You may conduct activities that only a few insurers will cover reducing your options


  • What is a public liability claim against a business or the owner personally?

    It is a letter of demand from an individual or more than one person, for an injury sustained or personal loss at your business. This type of claim is based upon the gym owner being negligent, therefore being liable. That said, irrespective of whether the gym owner is negligent or not, this has to be proven in court. The timeline of a claim like this may take 12-18months to finalise, but some actually go run for much longer. 

  • What should you do if you have received a letter of demand from an injured member?

    A claim maybe brought against a gym several months or more after an alleged incident so the manager needs to gather information to present to their broker.

    - Check to see if the member was actually at the gym at the time of the alleged incident

    - Check if the incident was reported and filed

    - Check if there is any video footage and witnesses

    - Collect all forms of communication with the injured member

    - Do not admit fault

    - Do not make any payments to the injured member

    - Forward all information to your broker

    - Have a low claims ratio and/or have high level risk management policies.

    - Have the highest qualifications for their instructors and constantly improve them

    - Regularly do your own or get an independent risk assessors to review/audit your facility. 

    - Invest in more cameras to capture incidents, making it easier for insurers to defend against a claim.

    - Ask their broker for a multi policy discount (purchase a biz pack or another policy)

    - Find a broker with preferred rates (special program) where they pass on the rates to the client.


  • What is the obligation of the insured to minimize the chance of a claim being successful brought against them?

    - make sure the insured follows their operational procedures

    - provide a safe and professional environment for members to train

    - make sure all instructors / coaches at the gym are full qualified for what they teach

    - make sure the gym has the appropriate risk management policies in place and they are followed

    - every member or person participating in any activity at your gym, needs to sign a waiver

    - every person trying out for the first time needs to be fully inducted into using the equipment safely 

    - equipment is regularly checked for correct operation and maintained to a safe standard

    - make sure the facility is clean and there are no trip or slip hazards


  • What are some of the injuries that happen to gym members?

    - tripping over a mat, weight, bag or over their own feet etc

    - slipping on the soap in the shower, wet floor, wet mats from sweat

    - lifting weights that are too heavy for the member

    - free weights (bar bell) falling off as they didn’t clamp them securely

    - free weights lying around and someone tripping over them

    - falling off treadmills, bikes, steppers etc

    - doing their own warm up unsupervised

    - not doing an adequate warm up and working out too vigorously straight away

    - not doing the exercise properly or showing off

    - not listening or adhering to the instructor’s direction

    - not looking where they are going and walked into walls, doors, equipment (on phone)

    Ask us about our risk management strategies to help you minimize the chance of an incident.



  • Who are the people that claim on gym insurance?

    - Those with a genuine claim due to negligence on the part of the operator and just want (reimbursement of costs)

    - Those who take no responsibility for their actions and feel entitled to blame everyone else (go for max payouts)

    - Those who take partial responsibility for their actions, but still feel entitled to claim (all their medical costs)

    - Those who are opportunists who see an injury as an opportunity to scam the insurer (go for max payouts)

    - Those who are professional scammers who fake injures and keep the claim under a certain threshold, as it’s more likely to be paid prior to going to court.

    Ask us about our pre-claim strategies to help minimize the impact on your business.


What should you do for the injured person?

At all time you should render assistance to the best of your ability, including providing first aid by a qualified first aid provider as there should be one available anytime during training. Martial Arts Personal Injury Insurance Cover can make overcoming an incident a little easy to accept when some of the expenses are paid through an insurance policy.

If you have an incident - Contact your insurance broker and complete a report.

What you should advise the injured player?
If you are asked if any of the injury is covered by insurance, you should refer them to your insurance broker for coverage specifics. However, the first response to claim any injury cost is Medicare, then private hospital cover should the injured person have private health insurance, and then subject to the policy terms and conditions, the player accident policy may provide some benefits for any excess costs.

Non-Disclosure
School Owners failing to comply with their duty of disclosure may entitle the insurer to reduce his liability under the contract in respect of a claim or may cancel the contract. If your non-disclosure is fraudulent, the insurer may also have the option of avoiding the contract from its beginning. N.B. The disclosure is especially important in matters relating to the physical risk, past claims, cancellations of insurance covers, the imposition of increased premiums etc. and any matters that might affect the acceptance of the risk (such as insolvency or criminal convictions).

Your duty of disclosure must be taken seriously as it may affect your right to claim. Disclosure is not limited to matters applying to the insured named in the policy but includes other past businesses or private insurances.

Utmost Good Faith
Insurance contracts are subject to the doctrine of Utmost Good Faith and this is part of the Law. Both parties must strictly adhere to utmost Good Faith. If you fail to do so, you may prejudice any claim. For example if a school owner stated he had 100 students when in fact he had 200 then the person is really under insured by 50%. The insurer may choose to reduce the payout of a claim by 50% leaving the school owner to pay the balance to claimant.

Lodging and Making A Claim
Contact your broker / the person who sold the policy to you.

What is claimable?
Refer to policy wording document

For Martial Arts Insurance - Speak to a specialist broker: 03 8201 9908 - Fill in the form GET A QUOTE TODAY!

Accidents happen everyday as you can see by the images below, insurance can take part of the pain away in many cases, but sometimes you have to get on without it!

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