ABSA Group HERS Assessors Professional Indemnity Insurance

The cost for this insurance is $280.00 (incl. GST) and provides annual cover for all your work as defined below.

It is a mandatory requirement that all ABSA accredited Thermal Performance Assessors must maintain adequate insurance to indemnify themselves for their role as an Accredited Assessor*. This requirement provides assessor’s clients with the knowledge and confidence of suitable insurance protection for their work. It also protects assessors in the event of errors. To make it easy for assessors to secure the right cover at a low price, ABSA has negotiated a very competitive professional indemnity insurance program that covers their thermal performance assessment services. This insurance is provided by our broker Insurance Advisory Services (NSW) Pty Ltd.

The program ABSA has negotiated offers a shared limit of $20 million worth of cover for ABSA Accredited Assessors (with 2 reinstatements – $60 million in the aggregate). There is
a sublimit per member of $5 million, and a $1000 excess. Retroactive cover is unlimited as long as your accreditation remains current.

The cover extends to professional services where ABSA accredited members are providing:

• Thermal Performance Assessments (TPA) as per the guidelines set by ABSA, statutory and regulatory requirements.

• Commercial Energy Rating Assessments (Section J) as per the guidelines set by ABSA, statutory and regulatory requirements excluding drafting, designing and/or drawing services.

• Undertaking energy efficiency assessments for the purpose of Building Code of Australia, Deemed to Satisfy (DTS) assessments.

• NatHERS reports as per the guidelines set by the Building Designers Association of Victoria (BDAV) even where such report is issued solely under the BDAV logo, so long as at the time of issuing such NatHERS report, such Accredited Member held dual Accreditation with ABSA and BDAV.

• Professional advice related to the above assessments.

• Quality Assurance Audits related to the above assessments for Australian Buildings only.

• BASIX certification undertaken by an ABSA accredited assessor.

• Professional Advice in relation to NABERS & Commercial Building Disclosure as at 2/3/2020

• Professional Advice in relation to Victorian Residential Energy Efficiency Score Card as at 2/3/2020

To apply for this insurance please read the following Special Notices and select Professional Indemnity Insurance when joining or renewing your ABSA membership.

Special notices

The following memorandum of Insurance (and any amendments) is only prepared as a summary of your insurance policy. It is not a complete description of all your policy terms,
conditions and exclusions which are attached thereto.

In case of a claim under this policy, or questions with regard thereto, the provisions of the policy will prevail and the claims contact details may be utilised accordingly. 

Your duty of disclosure

Before you enter into a contract of general insurance with an insurer you have a duty under the Insurance Contracts Act 1984, to disclose to the insurer every matter that you know, or
could reasonably be expected to know, is relevant to the insurers decision whether to accept the risk of the insurance and, if so, on what terms.

You have the same duty to disclose those matters to the insurer before you renew, extend, vary or reinstate a contract of general insurance.

Your duty, however, does not require disclosure of any matter:

• That is common knowledge
• That diminishes the risk to be undertaken by the insurer
• That your insurer knows or, in the ordinary course of business, ought to know
• As to which, compliance with your duty is waived by the insurer.

If you fail to comply with your duty of disclosure, the insurer may be entitled to reduce his liability under the contact in respect of a claim or may cancel the contract. If however, your
non-disclosure is fraudulent, the insurer may also have the option of voiding the contract.

Subrogation (recovery) agreements

Before you enter into a contract of general insurance with any insurer, the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 stipulates that the insurer must advise you of any provisions in your policy affecting the preservation of their rights of subrogation. As your insurer has given us such advice, your policy of insurance provides that you will not be able to recover under it if you enter into or have entered into any agreement which excludes or limits your rights of recovery from other parties. Therefore, you must not have agreed to and must not agree to give away any of your rights which may affect your insurer's right to recover under subrogation from other parties.

Average / Co-Insurance companies

Most policies covering property contain an Average or Co-Insurance provision whereby the liability of the Insurer may be reduced where the sum insured is less than the actual or
replacement value of the property / interest insured by the policy. Also, most policies of a Consequential Loss nature contain an Average provision of a similar reducing effect should the sum insured be less than appropriate to the basis or settlement applicable to the policy. It is essential therefore that you ensure that full and correct amounts of cover are established at the time you enter into the contract of insurance.

Third party

The policy covers only the interest of the Insured, and does not extend to include the interest of the third party in the contract.

Utmost good faith

Insurance contracts are subject to the doctrine of utmost good faith, and this is embodied in the Act. Utmost good faith must be strictly adhered to by both parties - Insured and Insurer -
and failure by the Insured to do so may prejudice any claim.

Insurance brokers dispute facility

ABSA does not act as Agent and or Broker for the Insurer. Insurance Advisory Service (NSW) Pty Ltd (IAS) as Broker act on behalf of ABSA. Clients who are not fully satisfied with our service should contact IAS customer relations / complaints officer on (02) 8268 2900. Insurance Advisory Service (NSW) Pty Ltd also subscribe to the Insurance Brokers Dispute
Facility (IBDF), a free customer service, and the General Insurance Brokers Code of Practice. Further information is available from the IAS office.

GST charges

As the service of providing general insurance services falls under the umbrella of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), we are required to charge you on a proportional basis for any
insurance services provided by or via us after 30 June 2000.

*Please note that while professional indemnity insurance is mandatory for ABSA accreditation, making use of the ABSA insurance program is optional.