People who have ‘high risk occupations’ are considered a higher risk when it comes to Life Cover and are often subject to various exclusions and higher premiums. What’s more, these exclusions and their associated definitions can differ from one insurance provider to the next.

The most common occupations considered to be “High Risk” are usually associated with Working at Height, the Oil and Gas Industry (offshore), aircraft pilots, fishermen and HM Forces personnel.

Some occupations are riskier than others often coming with a salary commensurate with the risk involved.

Whilst occupation is only one of many factors that affect insurance premiums, it is fairly safe to say that your Life Cover premiums will be weighted in a similar way to your salary. Your employer rewards you more than the usual for working in a particularly hazardous job, your insurer may penalise you for the very same reason by requesting higher than usual premiums. To be fair, this is not unreasonable!

However, regardless what you do for a living, you should regularly re-assess life insurance needs. Life Cover will ensure that the financial needs of your loved ones are taken care of after you die.

If you’re single, with no dependents, you probably think you do not need any life insurance. Don’t forget poor mum and dad who, now they are older and perhaps retired, depend on your financial support to help them get through those cold, wet winters. It may be that you take Aunt Mabel shopping every Monday and then to her over 60′s club on Fridays.

They have no-one else and someone is going to have to pay your funeral expenses. How will they get around after you’re gone if you haven’t made provision for them?

You are on a night out with family and friends. You have only had a few drinks and by no means considered drunk.

You suddenly find yourself on the wrong end of a totally unprovoked attack by some stranger. They punch you so hard that you crash to the pavement, unconscious!

Your friends call an ambulance and following examination at your local hospital, you are diagnosed as having a fractured skull and a blood clot on the brain and need to have an operation.

Although there were plenty of witnesses, everybody was worried about your wellbeing so the person who attacked you got away. Public outcry immediately reigned supreme with everyone condemning your assailant’s actions.

This is not fiction. It actually happened to a man aged 42 years old and was a news story reported in This is Plymouth.co.uk on 13 August 2008. Unfortunately, it is not that unusual today .

The headline story may end there but that is never the end of it. This innocent victim of circumstance, being in the wrong place at the wrong time cost him dearly both mentally and physically for some time.

He spent 3 weeks in hospital, was off work for six months and has suffered ongoing physical and psychological problems.

As it happens, on this occasion, the attacker voluntarily handed himself in the following day. Some 9 months after the attack, he was sentenced to 10 months in jail, suspended for two years and ordered to pay the victim £4,000 compensation at £40 per week and to do 200 hours of unpaid community work. The victim may also be an entitled to compensation through the Criminal Injury Compensation Scheme.

Everything seems to take an eternity to sort out, none of which helped either the victim or his family at the time when they needed it most. State benefits and employee benefits (if the victim was working) will have gone some way to helping them through but none of that can be guaranteed to be sufficient.

It is therefore prudent to plan for injuries/illnesses that may put you/your family in a financially “at risk” situation. Income Protection Quote are useful products designed expressly to help you manage such a situation and well worth considering. Without an Income Protection Quote you and your family could find yourself in financial meltdown caused by such a tragic event!