Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) – commonly known as drones – were originally a tool only intended for the military.
Now they are regularly used for civilian purposes such as photography, traffic monitoring and firefighting, said Janarthan Sivarajah, senior director of new business, professional liability, at Toronto-based Zensurance.
As with most flying objects, drones are prone to accidents. According to the Canadian Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System, 779 drone incidents were reported between 2014 and 2018. In addition, 30% of these incidents were reported within one nautical mile of an airport. .
Therefore, insurance is a must, whether your customers are flying drones for work or for entertainment.
First, there is insurance against physical damage to the drone itself. “Say it crashes into a building and it’s damaged, lost or stolen,” Sivarajah said. “We can insure the drone itself. “
Civil liability is more important. “This protects you from any bodily injury or property damage resulting from the use of the drone,” he said. For example, injuries can occur when a drone lands (or crashes) against a person’s vehicle – or the person. “If your drone runs out of power and hits an individual, [the insurance] will cover the injury, as well as all medical costs associated with that injury.
Similar to other types of insurance, drone coverage can come with extensions such as invasion of privacy. “If you are a photographer and you fly drones, there is a risk of invasion of privacy if you take a photo of someone to whom you are not entitled.
There is also a cyber extension. A photographer using a drone will have digital assets, Sivarajah said. “If the drone is stolen, lost or damaged, are they able to recover the costs of those assets? “
And consider the liability for noise. “[Say] your drone is making too much noise and your neighbor is complaining and there is a lawsuit against that, ”he said.
In other words, the nature of the UAV’s use will determine the right amount of coverage and type, Sivarajah said.
Zensurance asks about the model and weight of the drone, as well as the number of hours of drone flight experience the operator has, “because some insurance companies ask for this type of information.” Sivarajah said.
Sivarajah said a lot of coverages probably weren’t implemented into a drone insurance policy five or 10 years ago. “As we see more and more complaints [invasion of privacy, property damage, noise liability], insurers will add other extensions, ”he said.
“Some insurers may have already established [some extensions] but some can’t, ”Sivarajah said, stressing that brokers should explain policy details to their clients. “Because if it’s not on your policy, it’s excluded. “
Featured Image by iStock.com/level
