LANCASTER UNIVERSITY
STUDENT PLACEMENT INSURANCE GUIDE
CONTENTS
STUDENT PLACEMENT GUIDELENES
SPECIFIC COVERS APPLICABLE
LEGAL LIABILITY – work and personal
LIABILITY (work related)
Personal Liability (of the student)
UK Liability Market Cover
Students Abroad
The Lancaster Universitys own Liability Cover
Host Organisations with Low Staff Numbers
Travel Cover
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STUDENT PLACEMENT INSURANCE GUIDELINES
These guidelines have been prepared solely to identify the various covers arranged by the Lancaster University
that apply to placements (not field work).
Further guidelines are available from the Lancaster University dealing with other aspects of placement
arrangements.
SPECIFIC COVERS APPLICABLE
Only those classes of covers which form part of the Lancaster University’s programme, and are relevant, are
mentioned here – full details of all the terms and exclusions of the covers are retained by Operational
Procurement.
The categories are:
•
•
LEGAL LIABILITY – work and personal
TRAVEL
Legal Liability – work and personal
Duty of care
Lancaster University owes a duty of care to the student to ensure the student is not injured during placement
activities.
The Host Organisation will also owe the student a duty of care.
Placement Procedures
The first tasks to be undertaken whenever a placement is proposed are:
1)
a risk assessment and
2)
completion of Indemnity Form A (see ii) below) – see specimen Form A at rear of this Guide.
Prior to placement:
i) the Lancaster University must ensure that a responsible person carries out a full risk assessment to identify
possible areas of risk to the student and then once identified effect a plan to prevent or minimise the risk.
Note: the Host Organisation should themselves carry out their own risk assessment.
ii) Form A should be forwarded to and completed by the Host Organisation to confirm
that they have both Employers’ Liability and Public Liability covers in force - see
Liability (work related) later.
If it is not possible to obtain completion of Form A for any reason then your records should be noted
accordingly as it is important the Placement itself is not jeopardized
Occasionally the Host Organisation will request an indemnity from the Lancaster University in respect of
injuries or damage arising from a student placement. (This may be so if the Host Organisation is a Local
Authority or situated abroad.) In this case Form B should be completed by the Lancaster University - see
specimen Form B at rear of this Guide.
Agreement to provide an indemnity should be discouraged. Ideally Form B should be issued only to ensure
that the placement opportunity itself is not put at risk by the Lancaster University’s omission to provide the
indemnity required.
However please contact Operational Procurement prior to the issue of Form B.
Liability (work related)
Work related liability may be incurred by the following:
injury to the student and/or
accidental injury or accidental damage caused by the student
from placement related activities. The Host Organisation should have liability covers in
place to indemnify them against claims arising out of the above - such covers are divided into two areas:
Employers’ Liability - injury to the student (regarded as an employee of the Host Organisation) arising out of
placement related activities for which the Host Organisation is legally liable.
This Employers’ Liability cover will indemnify the Host Organisation (and the Lancaster University
as a Principal with the agreement of the Host Organisation) if the student is injured during
placement activities and the student subsequently makes a claim against the Host
Organisation.
The cover is on a legal liability basis only so the Host Organisation must be deemed to be legally liable before
any payment is made - no legal liability - no payment.
Public Liability - accidental injury or accidental damage caused by the student arising out of placement related
activities - this cover usually extends to include the liability of the student with the Host Organisations
permission.
This cover will indemnify the Host Organisation (and the Lancaster University as a Principal with the
agreement of the organisation) if following injury or damage caused by a student a third party subsequently
makes a claim against the Host Organisation.
The cover is on a legal liability basis only so the Host Organisation must be deemed to be legally liable before
any payment is made - no legal liability - no payment.
It is recommended that the Lancaster University obtain a confirmatory declaration from the Host Organisation
that these covers are in place - see Form A mentioned earlier.
Personal Liability (of the student)
The Personal Liability section of the Travel Cover will apply to any damages or costs for which the student
becomes legally liable to pay arising from accidental injury or accidental damage caused by the student acting
in a personal capacity (leisure time etc) during the period of the placement up to the limit of £2,000,000 per
occurrence.
UK Liability Market Cover
Generally, UK liability insurers have extended their definition of “Employee” to include students on work
experience or similar schemes e.g. placements.
The effect of this is that if the student on placement is injured they will be regarded as an employee of the
Host Organisation and if a claim for damages is brought against the Host Organisation it will be passed to their
Employers’ Liability insurers to deal with.
Also, if the placement student were to cause injury or damage during work activities then the Public Liability
cover of the Host Organisation would deal with the claim.
It is stressed that the cover is on a legal liability basis only - and both covers have the specific limits of
indemnity selected by the Host Organisation.
Completion of Form A - see Placement Procedures earlier - confirms that the organisation has Employers’
Liability and Public Liability cover and that it includes students on placement.
For claims involving UK placements the Lancaster University is not normally involved in any resulting claim.
Students Abroad
With regard to students abroad on placements, initially the same Placement Procedures as earlier should be
followed. However, completion of Form A may not be possible in some instances.
Countries such as the United States of America and Australia, for example, have a completely different system
of dealing with injuries to employees and use a State-controlled "Worker's Compensation" scheme. This
provides set benefits to injured employees irrespective of fault - hence Host Organisations in those countries
will not sign Form A.
As previously mentioned if it is not possible to obtain completion of Form A then your records should be noted
accordingly as it is important the Placement is not jeopardised.
Please contact either Operational Procurement directly for guidance.
If there is any doubt over a document that the Institute is required to sign by a placement or the Host
Organisation please contact Operational Procurement immediately.
Lancaster University’s own Liability Cover
The situation regarding students on placement to a Host Organisation within the UK should not present a
problem bearing in mind the enlarged definition of Employee on insurance covers as mentioned previously.
There may be exceptions to this and the Employee definition may not apply to overseas organisations.
However, the Lancaster University’s own Public Liability cover extends automatically to cover the Lancaster
University’s legal liability for claims made against the Lancaster University arising out of any injury to the
student or damage or injury caused by the student.
Providing the Lancaster University agrees, the cover will also apply to any student of the Lancaster University
against such legal liability in respect of a claim for which the Lancaster University would have been covered if
the claim had been made against the Lancaster University i.e. instead of claiming against the Lancaster
University the injured party claims against the student.
Host Organisations with Low Staff Numbers
If the Host Organisation is a company with low staff numbers it may be exempt from the need to have
Employers' Liability insurance and may not be able to complete Form A.
In practice this means that if the student is injured whilst working for that company the student may seek
damages for any injuries from the company but there will be no Employers’ Liability insurer and the company
would have to deal with the claim itself.
It would be doubtful if such a company would have sufficient resources to settle such a claim - the only option
would be for the student to seek benefit under any Personal Accident Cover of the University that might apply.
In consideration of this issue it may be preferable for alternative Host Organisations, if available, to be used
otherwise there is little the Lancaster University can do other than to note their own records that no
Employers’ Liability cover is in force.
Bearing in mind the difficulties of finding suitable placement opportunities this fact alone should not be a bar
to the continuation of the proposed placement.
Travel Cover
Travel cover for any student in relation to the journey
The journey – any course related trip undertaken by the student involving travel
• outside the United Kingdom or
• within the United Kingdom( but only if the journey requires the student to obtain overnight
accommodation away from their place of residence or involves flying as a passenger where the flight has been
booked before the start of the journey)
starting from the time of leaving their residence or place of study, whichever is last, and continues until arrival
back at the residence or place of study whichever is first.
Benefits:
• Medical expenses – UK nil but £5,000,000 elsewhere
• Personal/Business property - worldwide viz
Personal belongings £2,000
Business Equipment £2,000
• Money - worldwide £1,000
• Disruption - worldwide viz
Cancellation /Curtailment/alteration to itinerary £5,000
Travel delay - £60 first complete 12 hours and £30 for each further 12 hours –max £180
Hi-jack - £100 for each 24 hours or part of detention and extra travel costs to £5,000
Rearrangement £5,000
• Personal Injury - worldwide
Death – £25,000 (£5,000 if student under 16 years of age)
Permanent Disabling Injuries - £25,000
• Personal Liability (not work related) - worldwide £2,000,000
• Legal Expenses - UK nil and £25,000 elsewhere
An excess may apply to some sections - full details can be found in Schedule A of the Lancaster University’s
travel cover held by Operational Procurement.
Indemnity Form A – for completion by the Host Organisation
FORM A _______________________________Lancaster University
Host Organisation ________________________________________________
Name of Student_______________________________________________________________
Duration of placement From___________________ To______________________________
Host Organisation Declaration
We confirm we have a written Health and Safety Policy
We confirm we have undertaken a risk assessment of our work practices to identify, minimise and/or eradicate
possible risks to the student
We confirm we have in force Employers’ and Public Liability insurances and that the student and/or
accompanying teacher is deemed to be an employee for the purposes of these insurance policies
We confirm having advised the appropriate insurers of the proposed placement
Should the student be expected to work with machinery, equipment or substances hazardous to health safety
precautions will first have been taken, first aid facilities will be available and training, supervision and
protective clothing will be provided
We confirm we will advise the Lancaster University immediately of any injury or damage involving the student
Signed on behalf of the Host Organisation
Name____________________________ Position held________________________________
Date_____________________________
Indemnity Form B – for completion by the Lancaster University
Form of Indemnity
In consideration of (Lancaster University)____________________________________
permitting (Host Organisation)____________________________________to place students
at (address)_____________________________________________
from_________________________to _______________________the Lancaster University agrees to
indemnify(Host Organisation) _________________________________________________
and its servants and agents against all damages, loss, claims, costs and expenses for which
they become legally liable as a result of bodily injury to persons and/or damage to material property arising
out of any negligent act or omission of any student or member of the student placement party during the
course of the placement
Provided that
notice in writing shall be given to the Lancaster University as soon as practicable of any action or claim
brought, made or threatened against you and that you shall not settle, adjust or compromise such action or
claim without the Lancaster University’s consent
b) this indemnity shall not apply to the extent that such liability results from any act or neglect of (Host
Organisation)________________________________________its servants or agents
Signed(Lancaster University) ________________________
Name_______________________
Position______________________
Date ______________________