Argus Group will soon provide medical coverage to students injured on the job.

Currently students fall into a grey area because while they are covered as dependents on their parents' health insurance policy that coverage does not apply if the injury is sustained while they are working a part-time or summer job.

Workers' compensation policies also stipulate that they does not cover temporary workers injured on the job. This means that thousands of students risk racking up costly medical bills if injured at work.

But Argus chief executive officer Gerald Simons said his company had decided to change its policy to ensure students are covered.

"We noticed that there were incidents when students were getting injured, particularly as many young men come back from school and work within the construction industry," he said.

"I am sure there are incidents where we have paid out because we did not know it had happened at the workplace but other times we would encourage the employer to pay. Under common law employers should provide a safe work environment."

Mr. Simons said in the past employers often paid but said there has been one instance where Argus covered medical costs for a young man who was injured on the job because the of extenuating circumstances.

"We have decided it is time to make it a part of our coverage," he said. "I think our customers will be very pleased with the steps we have taken. It has been a long process and we are in the final stages of drafting the coverage. It should happen within the coming months.

"We've taken this step because we saw that there was a real need to ensure students were covered."–Other insurance companies would not comment on their policies and the Bermuda Health Insurance Association did not respond to a request about industry-wide standards.