Risk & Business Magazine Cooke Insurance Group Spring 2016 | Page 27

requirements or the stringent operator
regulations that make conventional
commercial aircraft crashes so rare.
Eventually, mechanical failures and
operator errors will likely result in
crashes. Businesses, especially those
that operate drones in populated areas,
should make sure they are adequately
covered in the event of property damage
or injury to a third party.
Under Transport Canada’s rules, all
commercial drone operators are required
to carry at least $100,000 of third-party
liability insurance. When evaluating
their insurance needs, businesses
should be aware that most commercial
general liability policies exclude the
operation of aircraft. Accordingly, drone
operators must ensure that they have
comprehensive coverage tailored to their
specific drone usage.

Theft and Fraud
A couple of benefits of drones—their
portability and advanced technology—
can also prove to be great liabilities.
Small drones are easy and attractive
targets to thieves, and the industry hasn’t
developed many internal safeguards for
stolen drones. Unlike the traditional
aircraft industry, which has a tracking
system and serial numbers for aircraft
parts, the drone industry hasn’t adopted
either a tagging or tracking system. In
other words, there’s almost no chance of
recovering a stolen drone.

Broad Use
Another