Personal Accident Insurance: Reducing Your Risk Category

Personal accident insurance is a supplemental insurance policy, used in conjunction with life insurance. It is an affordable policy sometimes used to fill the gaps left from Workman’s Compensation, Health Insurance, or Disability. For American’s under 40, accidents are the leading cause of death.

Risk Categories

Many businesses provide this extra coverage for employees that are in higher risk situations.
  • High rates of travel associated with employment
  • War Zone travel and deployment
  • Travel associated with long commutes or in high crime areas, such as those with higher amounts of carjackings.
  • Work condition associated with hazardous chemicals, high-intensity machinery and tools, or potentially dangerous equipment.
  • Manual labor involved in high rise construction
Personal accident insurance will typically cover for losses as a result of an accident. That may include loss of life, accidental dismemberment, loss of speech, hearing, or sight, loss due to coma, or loss due to complete disability.

Lowering the Risk Category

Personal accident insurance ranks types of employment in terms of their risk. At the top of the list in the high risk area are those that work in underground mines, working with explosives, electricians dealing with high tension supply, high rise construction workers, circus performers, and war zone employment.

Lowering the risk category means working in a field that has a lower risk of loss. Businesses that have a low accident rate and follow safety guidelines set by organizations such as OSHA will be at a lower risk. Personal accident insurance rates will drop for those working in low to medium risk fields, based upon the potential accidents that can occur.

Medium risk employment will include drivers of heavy vehicles, professional athletes, veterinarians, builders and engineers in the act of supervising, and garage mechanics. Businesses with low risks for accidents will the likes of bankers, architects, teachers, doctors, lawyers, and other types of office work.

Some areas of the world will be put into higher risk categories based upon lifestyles. Infectious diseases associated with third world areas are commonly part of a higher category if travel is required by the employee. A doctor working in a low risk area can suddenly be catapulted to the high risk if he has to travel to areas to work with high rates of HIV/AIDS, Ebola Virus, or other airborne diseases.

It is important to know that personal accident insurance will not cover suicide, drug and alcohol abuse, or pre-existing medical conditions such as epilepsy that can cause injury when no accident has occurred. Reviewing the conditions of the personal accident policy will clarify the risk assessment.
Sponsored Links