Refer to this summary of the records you will need and other important information after an incident.
A claim can be submitted up to three years after an incident, so you will need to retain all relevant documentation alongside the accident investigation. The documentation you will need to disclose in order to defend a claim will vary dependant on the type of incident. As a standard you are usually required to disclose from the following:
Visit our main claims sections webpages for claims guidance and the best way to get in touch.
There are many reasons to notify early and complete correctly.
You should investigate incidents that cause injury in accordance with internal procedures having nominated a direct contact for this. The insured must immediately notify Zurich upon receipt of any formal letter of claim or proceedings.
There's no guarantee that any individual claim can be defended successfully, since each case is considered on its own merits and will ultimately be decided by the court if it cannot be settled between the parties/ their representatives.
However, you can significantly improve your organisation's ability to defend personal injury claims by reducing the scope to be found in breach of your duty to employees and to others by demonstrating that health and safety matters are taken very seriously. In particular that they're supported by relevant documentation, adequate resources, appropriate training and that you have an effective safety management regime, all of which is kept up to date.
On all employers' liability claims a claims inspector will be instructed to investigate liability.
On all other cases where feasible, a ‘desk-top’ decision on liability will be made by Zurich, subject to all relevant documentation being made available. We will undertake the necessary investigations and if we consider it appropriate, one of our claims inspectors will conduct investigations on site.
In circumstances where we deem it necessary to appoint a loss adjustor, e.g. a property damage claim to specialist equipment, a panel loss adjuster will be instructed.
England and Wales
To keep a matter within the personal injury portal and benefit from fixed costs, response to employer liability claims must be within 30 working days, and Public Liability within 40 working days. If the response cannot be made in this time, it reverts to the protocol timescale of 3 months, but fixed costs application is lost.
Scotland
There is no portal system, and the response on liability should be made within 12 weeks.
Northern Ireland
There is no portal system, and the response on liability should be made within three months.
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