Often overlooked is risk associated with having volunteers working in the company.
A parent volunteer is injured while breaking up a schoolyard fight. A teenage volunteer suffers an animal bite while helping out with animal care at the local Humane Society. A summer intern trips over a cord and breaks an arm.
Volunteers are not automatically covered on the company’s Workers’ Comp policy. A request can be made of the underwriter to add them, and it is possible to do so, if acceptable to underwriting standards. However, it is not advisable for temporary workers such as volunteers to be covered, as their accidents will affect the company’s loss experience and experience modification.
The best option is the purchase of a Volunteer Accident Policy. For a relatively small premium, this policy will cover volunteers, usually on an excess basis, for medical costs and in some cases even a small death benefit.
Excess means that any medical insurance covering the volunteer would be primary. This policy would be activated only if there was no other insurance on the volunteer.
A number of companies are in this market, Chartis, Philadelphia Insurance, Nationwide and QBE to name a few.
Typically, you would go for the policy that is modest in price, and easy to apply for. The most user friendly we have found curretnly is QBE. For less than 100 employees, the cost is $300 per year, and provides $100,000 of Accident Medical Expense Benefit.
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