Owners and occupiers of commercial buildings must insure them-Davor

Mr Simon NK Davor, Deputy Commissioner of Insurance on Thursday called on owners and occupiers of commercial buildings to insure their properties as required by the Insurance Act 2006 (Act 724).

He stressed that Section 183(1) of Act 724 states that “A person shall not construct or cause to be constructed a commercial building without insuring with a registered Insurer, the liability in respect of construction risks caused by negligence or the negligence of servants, agents or consultants which may result in bodily injury or loss of life or damage to property of any workman on the site or of any member of the public”.

Mr Davor who was speaking at a press conference organised on Thursday added that Section 184 (1) of Insurance Act 2006 Act 724 also states that “Every commercial building shall be insured with an Insurer against the hazards of Collapse, Fire, Earthquake, Storm and Flood, and Insurance policy issued for it’’.

The purpose of the conference was to inform the public of an upcoming Educational sub-Regional conference dubbed: “WAICA Accra-2012.”

It aims at encouraging the development of the insurance market in each member country on sound and technical basis and to stimulate exchange of business among member companies operating within West Africa.

Members of the West African Insurance Companies Association (WAICA) include Ghana, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria.

Meanwhile Mr Davor has expressed his condolence to the families of those who lost their lives through the collapsed of Achimota Melcom Shopping Mall.

He described the situation as unfortunate and regrettable.

Mr Davor said though the National Insurance Commission (NIC) had ran a number of public educational campaign on the radio and other media, the turn out for insured commercial buildings is surprisingly low.

He called on the public as a matter of urgency to respond to the Insurance Act.

Since 1st August 2011, all Commercial Buildings including those under construction are required by law to be insured under Compulsory Insurance for buildings.

The directive was issued by the NIC.

Subsection (3) of Section 184 of the Act defines commercial building as “privately owned building to which members of the public have ingress (way in) and egress (way out) for the purpose of obtaining educational or medical services, engaging in a commercial activity for the purpose of recreation or transaction of business”.

Commercial buildings include churches, schools, hospitals, retail and wholesale shops, hotels and other recreational centres, company buildings and virtually, all buildings except those owned by the state and private residential properties.