A major broker has asked staff to work from home to prevent the spread of COVID-19 as the Federal Government advised against gatherings of more than 500 people and all non-essential international travel.

Marsh confirmed “work from home arrangements” have been implemented for major offices in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane next week and this will be assessed each day “based on the progression of the outbreak”.

It’s understood Marsh is just one of a number of large insurers and brokers that have urged staff to work from home next week, with some also cutting all staff travel and banning internal and external meetings.

“Our offices will be open and functioning as usual, simply with fewer colleagues present,” a Marsh spokesman told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

The spokesman says the measures are precautionary and there has been no diagnosis of COVID-19 amongst Marsh Australia employees.

“This is a risk management decision to ensure we are doing everything we can to protect the wellbeing of our colleagues and the clients we interact with on a daily basis,” he said.

“Our business is well set up for agile working and we expect no disruption to the service of our clients.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison today advised against all gatherings of more than 500 people from Monday, and asked Australians to reconsider all non-essential international travel.

As previously reported, many brokers and insurers have already cancelled events, and introduced travel restrictions.

The Steadfast Convention, Insurance Council of Australia forum and annual dinner, and Australian Securities and Investments Commission annual forum have all fallen victim to the virus in recent days.

National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA) CEO Dallas Booth told insuranceNEWS.com.au today advice was being sent to all broker members to stress the importance of health measures and business continuity planning.

“We want broker managers to be really on top of business continuity arrangements and thinking about planning and testing those arrangements,” he said.

Mr Booth says the NIBA board has held “extensive discussions” about coronavirus and its potential impact.

He says each NIBA event will be reviewed in the light of advice from health authorities, but no cancellations have been confirmed at this stage.