A

There are two issues here: coverage for the employee who performs the first aid and coverage for the bank, the employer.

In general, a standard ISO CGL policy will not respond to a claim against an employee who injures a co-worker if the injury is deemed to arise in the course of employment. This is categorized as the fellow employee exclusion. The question, then, becomes whether first aid performed on an injured co-worker is “work related.” It is hard to believe that an employee who is lying on the floor after a heart attack is in the course of employment. Using this reasoning, there would be coverage for the employee administering CPR under a CGL policy for injury arising from the first aid. However, the courts have been liberal in their interpretation of what is work-related and what is not. There would be no coverage for the employee who performed the first aid if the injury were considered to be work related.

Coverage for the employee also would be excluded if he is a professional health-care worker. The standard CGL form excludes coverage for an employee performing or failing to perform professional health-care services. If the employee is a professional health-care worker, he should carry medical professional liability insurance because his employer's CGL policy will not protect him against medical professional liability claims.

The bank — the employer insured — is not affected by either of these employee exclusions. However, two exclusions on the CGL policy (exclusions d. and e.) draw a distinct line between employee injuries, which are to be covered by workers compensation and employers liabilities policies, and third-party injuries, which are addressed by the CGL policy.

Exclusion d. states there is no coverage for the insured employer if the injury falls under a workers compensation or similar law. Exclusion e. states there is no coverage for bodily injury to an employee arising out of the course of his employment whether the insured is liable in any other capacity or not. Thus, if the injury from the first aid is considered work related, the employer insured must look to his workers compensation or employers liability policy for coverage. The CGL form will not respond to employee-employer claims arising in the course of employment.