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By Alex Keogh
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What is Event Insurance?
Event insurance covers any liability you may have if someone falls, slips, or is injured on the venue- be it small, medium size or a big event. It also covers any damages done to the venue.
There are different types of event insurances available, and we will advise you on the coverage that is needed for your event depending on the type of event and what is involved. This could be anything from employers liability, damage to event property/equipment or coverage in the event of the unforeseen cancellation of your event and the financial losses from it.
Below are Some Popular FAQ's on Event Insurance:
Q. The Venue I'm using has their own Insurance! Why do I Need Event Insurance?
A. It's important that an event organizer has adequate insurance in place to protect them in the event of something happening. While venues used for events will usually have their own insurance in place, this would be seen as a minimum requirement for an event insurer and would still mean that an organizer is not fully protected. The event organizer is responsible for everything on the day and how the event unfolds; so although they may not ultimately be held liable, as the organizer you will be involved in any claim that may arise so it's important you have the adequate insurance in place to protect you.
Q. I Don’t have "Employees", is Employers Liability Really Needed?
A. This term tends to be taken quite literally, when in fact a volunteer or just a friend helping out on the day is viewed as an employee by the insurers for the duration of the event. This cover is to make sure you are protected in the event of something happening to a volunteer or staff member during the insured event. While it is not a legal requirement in Ireland, it is still seen as exposure for an event organizer and doesn’t usually cost too much to add on so it would always be recommended to have.
Q. The Venue/Local Authority has Asked me for Specific Indemnity, What is This & Does it Cost Extra?
A. In some cases before a venue even allows you to complete an application to use their premises for your event, they will advise certain cover requirements and subjectivities to an organizer. One of these most notable subjectivities is specific indemnity. This is what the venue looks for in order to have peace of mind that their insurance will not be used in the event of a claim happening at an insured event that is not their fault or that involves the venue, and usually comes in the form of a separate letter or just noted somewhere on your policy certificate.
Q. Do I Really Need to Have such a High Limit of Liability?
A. The standard liability limits usually considered in the Irish insurance market are €2.6 million and €6.5 million, these can seem excessive for someone who is looking to plan a small voluntary run event with little to no risk but are important to have in place in the event of the very worst case scenario. Without getting into too much detail, you would be surprised how easily a limit of €2.6 million can be reached depending on the severity of a claim, how many people are involved and/or the age of a claimant. This is why in most cases Local authorities or venues that can hold large numbers of people will look for €6.5 million as minimum for any event organizer to use their venue.
Q. Why Do I Need a Risk Assessment/Event Plan?
A. It is absolutely essential that an event organizer is well prepared for their insured event. While it is usually a condition of any event insurance policy that there is at least a risk assessment document being implemented for any event anyway, it's also important to mitigate any chance of having difficulty with settlement of a claim. If a claim is to arise and an insurer feels that the organizer did not carry out their duties to the public with care or take into account any health & safety matters, there can be complex and costly difficulties in reducing a possible settlement amount, or worse, potentially no cover in place in which case the organizer could end up baring the cost themselves.
Q. Do I Need to Fill in any Documents for this?
A. Depending on the event and the insurer, some insurers will look for a completed proposal form to be completed in order to formalize the declaration of information, especially if it is a larger scale event. However, a lot of times the insurers accept a statement of fact of all material facts declared by you. The quotes are based on the utmost good faith to declare information and are designed to make sure all material facts are disclosed to avoid any difficulty with claim settlements.
To get more such queries answered, why not contact our festivals & events insurance team today at insure@arachas.ie or call us on 01 293 5344.