The Society provides access to affordable public and product liability insurance for member’s personal beekeeping practices.

The period to purchase insurance for the 2023/24 season is now closed. 

IF YOU KEEP BEES OR ARE SELLING HONEY IT IS ADVISABLE TO HAVE ADEQUATE INSURANCE

Important Dates

Insurance cover runs for 12 months from 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024 and must be purchased by the end of July 2023.

Any members who wish to apply for insurance must complete the application and pay, in accordance with their number of hives, by 31 July 23. Negotiation with the underwriter and establishment of the policy will be completed in August.

The 2022/2023 certificate of insurance is available to download here. You will need to be logged in and a member to view this page. The 2023/2024 certificate will be available on that page when we receive it from the insurer. 

THIS INSURANCE IS NOT INTENDED TO COVER MEMBER’S COMMERCIAL BUSINESSES AND DOES NOT COVER THE COLLECTION OF SWARMS. 

If a member were to collect swarms we would recommend they have separate professional indemnity insurance. BSSA is unable to offer this.

General Information about what is covered. 

The insurance provided is a Products and Public Liability cover. The insurance covers the liability if someone is injured or affected in some way because of their beekeeping activities.  It doesn’t cover the beekeeper if they themselves are affected in the course of their beekeeping activities.  The beekeeper would accept any inherent risk of their beekeeping activities.

What it does mean is that their liabilities would be covered if (for example) a visitor to their property where their bees are located were to be stung and suffered an adverse reaction but not if they (the beekeepers themselves) were stung and suffered adverse reactions.

Similarly, if someone had an allergic reaction to honey or wax that they either purchased from or were given by the beekeeper then the beekeeper would be covered.

It doesn’t cover the beekeeper from any false claims they might make about how good their honey was (for example) or their lack of compliance with food labelling laws if they sell their honey.  The onus for compliance here is directly on the beekeeper concerned.

The limit of cover is $20,000,000 and there is an excess if a claim is lodged.

Coverage is dependant on the insured person being a current financial member of the BSSA at the time of application and of any claim.

INSURANCE CAN ONLY BE PURCHASED ONLINE VIA CREDIT CARD.
DIRECT DEPOSIT AND CHEQUE/CASH PAYMENTS ARE NO LONGER ACCEPTED FOR INSURANCE.

During periods insurance is available to purchase, it can be done so on the member's only page here.