Grange Hill Quarry at Naunton, near Cheltenham, closed for two days in July because insurers were not prepared to cover the employer\'s liability risk - even though the business had not had a claim in 10 years of cover.

When brokers finally did manage to find a company that would insure the quarry it cost four times more than it had cost the previous year at nearly £12,000.

And there was a requirement for a comprehensive Health, Safety, Ethical & Environmental assessment, which would cost a further £1,500.

The quarry employs 12 people, most of them producing Cotswold limestone roof tiles, and is precisely the kind of operation English Heritage have been championing in an attempt to preserve vernacular building traditions.

In the Lake District, too, plans to re-open a flag slate quarry near Coniston remain on hold after Dave Weir, who planned the development, discovered insurance would cost £10,000 rising to £14,000.

The National Trust owns the land, which is within the lakeland National Park, and had supported the proposal for the small-scale development. But after three years of preparatory work and gaining planning permission, the 11th hour revelation of the cost of insurance late last year threatened the project, which is still now in abeyance.

All industries are facing significant increases in employer\'s and public liability insurance and an insurer who has dealings with the stone industry estimates that masons will face an average increase of about 40% this year.

The worst hit sectors of construction have been scaffolding and roofing, as well as quarrying. Premiums have increased by as much as 1,000%. According to the insurance industry\'s own publication, the Insurance Times, more than 200 SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises) have already been forced to close.

Grange Hill Quarry does not anticipate closing, but its £12,000 bill has meant that plans for new offices have been shelved.

The catalyst for the increases was the 11 September terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre in New York last year, saddling the insurance industry across the world with a $16billion bill. There are at least four other claims currently valued at more than $1billion each being faced by the insurance industry.

According to the Association of British Insurers, insurance companies have paid out more for employers\' insurance than they have taken in premiums for each of the past 10 years. "September 11 brought it to a head," spokesperson Leonie Edwards told NSS.

The problem has been exacerbated by industrial disease compensation for conditions such as asbestosis and Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS) being included in the general employer\'s liability insurance. Hundreds of millions of pounds have been paid out in compensation to people who worked in asbestos factories and coal miners (and others) with HAVS.

HAVS remains a potential problem for many industries, including masonry, and is storing up further insurance claims for the future.

When firms are being put out of business because they cannot trade without insurance the system is clearly in danger and the Association of British Insurers says it has engaged in debate with the Government. It wants the Government to pass a law to allow industrial diseases to be excluded from standard employer\'s liability policies.

The Quarry Products Association say they are keeping a watching brief on the matter and note that MPs Adam Price, Harry Barnes and Elfyn Llwyd raised an Early Day Motion in Parliament saying that the House noted the difficulty industries like mining and quarrying were having in securing employer\'s liability insurance.

MP Roger Williams also tabled a Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Trade & Industry asking if she would make a statement about the matter relating to small quarries. The reply was that it was up to insurance companies to make decisions about who they would and would not insure.

The construction industry is facing a hard time from insurers because of its record. There are 68,000 construction companies employing 1.5million people. That\'s 8% of the workforce. But in the year 2000/01 the industry accounted for a third of all Health, Safety, Ethical & Environmental prosecutions and half of all prohibition orders served.

In the spring and early summer this year the Health, Safety, Ethical & Environmental Executive (HSE) blitzed 1,113 construction sites around Britain and as a result issued 460 prohibition notices and 97 improvement notices, which will only worsen the industry\'s record. Nine firms have already been prosecuted. More prosecutions are in the pipeline.

There were 114 fatal injuries relating to the industry in 2000/01, although that fell to 79 last year.

Insurance will be the subject of a paper being presented by Graham White of brokers Heath Lambert at the Stone Federation Great Britain annual conference this year (Buxton, Derbyshire, 27 September)."