Northern Rivers businesses and not-for-profits ensuring they understand insurance choices

The latest Resilient Ready program helps Northern Rivers NSW businesses plan effectively for disasters.

Does your business have the right insurance? Do you know what to consider if you can’t get or afford insurance? Do you have a trusted adviser to help with your business insurance choices?

The question about understanding business insurance choices and more are answered in the Business Beyond Disasters program.

Participants can learn how to prepare for disaster, trade during tough times and gain strategies to help recover quicker when disaster strikes.

It’s available to all businesses and not-for-profits in the Northern Rivers – for free – until December 2025.

Launched in March by the NSW Reconstruction Authority, the Building Beyond Disasters program was developed and delivered by credited social enterprise Resilient Ready, which specialises in business and community risk reduction and resilience.

Ten online learning modules help your business plan effectively for disasters, build essential business continuity capabilities and work together to overcome future challenges.

Topics covered include operating through disasters, financial viability, understanding insurance, evacuation triggers and how disasters can bring opportunities.

You can choose one of five specific programs that best align to your business including:

·         Retail, professional services and education

·         Agribusiness and aqua business

·         Tourism

·         Health and social services

·         Construction, trade and manufacturing 

Participants can share experiences in online weekly catchups and learn the resilience initiatives adopted by other businesspeople across the region.

Resilient Ready CEO Renae Hanvin says the “understand insurance choices” module was specially created given the challenges in the Northern Rivers.

“In fact, the whole Business Beyond Disasters program has local people just like you to help as they share their experience.”

Locals like Dudgeon Berry Insurance Group founder Mike Berry, who has operated in Lismore since 1999.

Insurance can be complicated, and all policies have conditions and exclusions. However, most people struggle to understand what those words mean, Mike says.

“While it is important to understand what insurance covers you for, it is equally, if not more important, to understand what circumstances may not be covered.”

While having insurance to cover every possible circumstance is ideal, it’s expensive and a cost many businesses can’t afford.

An insurance broker can help you make informed decisions about what risks to cover and understand the consequences of those you may not insure due to cost.

For example, cyberattacks are becoming an increasing risk and have serious financial implications on your business. If you understand the risks, you can take steps to mitigate them if you can’t afford to insure against them.

Mike’s son Daniel Berry, a partner in the business and a finalist for the NSW Insurance Broker of the Year award, encourages business owners to review their insurance annually.

“You could have reviewed your insurance five years ago and think it’s a set-and-forget situation, when in actual fact building costs have gone up over a hundred thousand dollars and you’re therefore not fully insured for full replacement costs.”

A trusted insurance broker can also help work through an insurance claim and deal with your insurer on your behalf.

And they can help ensure your business has the right level of coverage.

More than 80 per cent of policy holders are underinsured: “This can be devastating when you find your insurance will not be enough to replace what you have lost,” Mike says.

“Even worse, when you find that you don’t have any insurance at all or can’t get insurance”, a major issue for communities like Lismore where flood cover is not available for many businesses and is unaffordable for many homeowners.

“Many people simply guess how much to insure their building or contents for or they may deliberately keep the sum insured low to keep the cost of insurance down,” Mike says.

That short-term saving may prove costly when you make a claim because all business policies are subject to “the condition of average” or “the co-insurance clause”.

Put simple, if the replacement cost of your building is, say, $1 million but you insure it for $500,000, then you’re only insured for 50 per cent of its value.

Business Beyond Disasters is a Disaster Ready Fund project funded by the Australian Government and NSW Government.

Resilient Ready founder & CEO Renae Hanvin said: “We know from examples around the world including Australia that businesses and not-for-profits that are prepared for disaster have a better chance of surviving disaster and thriving afterwards.”

Each module in the Building Beyond Disasters takes about five minutes and you can do it at your convenience.

“It’s not a boring online program – it’s one that has videos to watch, worksheets to print out and talk with your team or business friends next door and online check-ins to ask your questions to experts.  

“The best bit is, it’s free – but the lessons you learn and the small actions you take now are priceless for the survival of your business.”

Click HERE to register.