Life Insurance for FIFO Workers

Fly-in fly-out work pays well, and it asks for a lot in return. You are a long way from home for weeks at a time, a long way from a major hospital while you are there, and a good part of what lands in your account each fortnight is allowances rather than base salary. Each of those changes how life insurance for FIFO workers should be put together, and none of them show up on an online quote form. Below we explain, in plain English, why FIFO work needs a different setup, what people in your position usually arrange, and where the detail tends to go wrong.

Why FIFO work changes how your life insurance should be set up

Four things about FIFO work change the answer, and none of them are about the flying.

• The job on site drives most of the price. Occupation ratings are set by the insurer, and a site safety adviser, a plant operator and an underground miner are usually rated differently. Some insurers also ask about roster patterns, shift work, underground work and how you get to site. Being specific about the actual role, and about the roster, is what lets an insurer rate it properly.
• A large slice of your income may not be counted. Site and shift allowances and regular overtime can make up a substantial part of FIFO earnings, and insurers differ on which of them they count when they work out an income protection benefit. Living-away-from-home, camp and travel payments are usually treated differently again, because they compensate you for the cost of being away rather than paying you for the work, so they commonly do not count. Insure on base salary alone and the monthly benefit can land well under what you actually live on.
• Remote work stretches the time to definitive care. A serious injury on a remote site is further from a major hospital than the same injury in town. That does not change what a policy pays, but it is a reason to set the income protection waiting period deliberately rather than accept a default.
• The income is high, and so is what gets built on it. Mortgages, vehicles and school fees get sized on FIFO money. If illness or injury stops the swings, the income drops sharply while the commitments carry on. The same applies if you step back to a town-based role by choice, which is worth planning for rather than discovering.

What FIFO workers typically arrange

Most people in FIFO roles build their protection from four parts, used together or on their own.

• Income protection. Pays a monthly benefit while illness or injury keeps you off work. Under APRA's rules for new policies, the benefit can be up to 90% of your earnings at the time of claim for the first six months and up to 70% after that, and some policies pay an extra amount into your super on top. High incomes are usually tapered, so the top part of your income is insured at a lower rate, and a monthly dollar maximum applies. For FIFO workers the detail that matters most is the income definition, because that is what decides whether your allowances are in or out. Because FIFO pay moves with rosters and overtime, insurers commonly assess a variable income on an average over a longer period rather than on your last payslip.
• Total and permanent disability (TPD). Pays a lump sum if illness or injury permanently stops you working. The definition does the heavy lifting: own-occupation TPD responds if you can no longer do your specific job, while any-occupation TPD only responds if you cannot do any job you are reasonably suited to. Someone who can no longer pass a site medical but could do office work may fail the any-occupation test.
• Life insurance. Pays a lump sum to your family or your estate if you pass away, and usually also if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness and have a limited life expectancy as the policy defines it. This is the part that clears the mortgage so the household is not forced to move while they are also dealing with everything else.
• Trauma (critical illness). Pays a lump sum on diagnosis of a defined serious condition such as cancer, heart attack or stroke. It is generally not available inside super, and it is often used for the costs that sit outside a medical bill, including a partner taking time off work.

The common thread is the wording. Two policies with the same premium can treat your allowances, your occupation and your disability definition completely differently, and you only find out which one you bought at claim time.

Insurance is always subject to the insurer's terms, conditions, exclusions, waiting periods and acceptance of your application, and what is available to you depends on your age, health, occupation and income. Read the product disclosure statement before you apply.

How we tailor life insurance for FIFO workers

FIFO has a few traps that are hard to see from a comparison website. We help by:

• Getting the occupation description right. We describe the actual role to the insurer rather than letting "FIFO" stand in for it, and we compare how the insurers on our approved product list rate that role. Ratings for the same job can differ between insurers.
• Building income protection around your real pay. We look at how your income is actually made up, including allowances, and match it to insurers whose income definition reflects it. It is a common gap in policies people already hold.
• Checking exclusions that catch site work. Some policies treat non-commercial aviation, offshore work or specific site hazards differently. We read those terms before you apply rather than after a claim.
• Working out what to keep inside super and what to hold outside it. Default insurance inside super is convenient and often basic. Own-occupation TPD is generally not available there, and default income protection inside super commonly runs for around two years, although some funds offer five years or cover to age 65. For a high-income FIFO role that can leave a real gap.

We are compensated by the insurer once you choose a policy through us, and we will always be upfront about any fee before it applies. This information is general in nature and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on it, consider whether it is appropriate for you and read any relevant disclosure document, including our Financial Services Guide and the insurer's product disclosure statement.